


Determination in the Age of Secret Identities

by hanwritesstuff (hannahkannao)



Series: MitAoSIverse [3]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, F/M, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Multi, akiteru plays a prominent role but the akisae's only in the last chapter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-13
Updated: 2017-06-29
Packaged: 2018-10-18 10:54:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 55,762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10615425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hannahkannao/pseuds/hanwritesstuff
Summary: “True love doesn't happen right away; it's an ever-growing process. It develops after you've gone through many ups and downs, when you've suffered together, cried together, laughed together.”In which Tsukishima Kei pulls uncharacteristically daring stunts, miraculously mixes water and electricity without dying, meets one of his biggest fans, reaches his breaking point, and comes to terms with who he really wants to be.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> (If you haven't already, you might want to read [the first MitAoSIverse](http://archiveofourown.org/works/4237875) installment (and possibly [the second](http://archiveofourown.org/works/5229527)) before this one, it'll probably make more sense that way)

When Keiji walked into the room, it felt like everyone had been waiting for him. He could instantly feel nine pairs of eyes on him, boring right into his soul. It was like he was on trial for a crime he didn't recall committing, and he had no idea what to expect.

"Thank you for coming on such short notice, Akaashi-kun." The woman at the head of the table, the oldest of everyone there, smiled at him as she gestured to a chair near the door that was conveniently empty. "Take a seat, this shouldn't take too long."

Keiji nodded, sitting down in the empty chair and looking up at the TV screens mounted around the room. There were four of them, each showing a different face, but he recognized them all. And combined with the five people sitting around the table with him, all nine members of the Japan Hero Project's Executive Board were represented. 

Yes, he, Akaashi Keiji, normal high school second-year, was a professional superhero agent-slash-manager-slash-mission-control-operator. And he would be lying through his teeth if he said he didn't like it at least a little bit.

"Excuse me for asking, but why am I here?" Keiji asked, trying to sound as polite as he possibly could despite his confusion. "I wasn't given anything to prepare, and -"

"You weren't supposed to be." The woman looked around at everyone else before looking to Keiji again. "We just need a third-party opinion, and we trust you to deliver good judgment."

"Thank you." Keiji quickly bowed his head, surprised at the sudden praise. Did they know he was only seventeen? He was proud that he could seem this mature, but at the same time... "What do you need my opinion on?"

"We have a proposition that would directly affect all of our current heroes, and since you're closer to them than most of us are, we thought you could accurately speak on their behalf. We hope you don’t mind.”

"Basically, we're thinking of implementing a backup system." One of the faces on the screen right behind Keiji's head started to talk as soon as there was a break in the conversation. She was the youngest member of the Board, and though Keiji didn’t remember her name, she’d been here for a few months now. "Every team would have two backup members in case of an emergency. We want to give everyone a break when they need one, especially since this line of work requires a lot of precision and effort." She sighed. “We’ve gotten a lot of feedback, especially around exams, which is completely justified. We’re just not sure if this is the right way to go about it.”

"People would definitely appreciate that," Keiji said. "But wouldn't that require more people to have access to classified information? It may present a threat to national security if this goes public."

"There are downsides to every option." The man across from Keiji frowned in his direction. "Who’s to say that we’re going to choose the right people at all? Do we let more people in on it, or do we not have a Plan B in case anything goes wrong?"

"We're just wondering if this is the best course of action to take," The woman on the screen said. "That is, if the pros outweigh the cons."

Keiji blinked once before putting on his best professional smile, one that he admittedly barely used but had practiced quite a bit for the interview a year and a half ago. "Definitely."

"Then it's settled." The woman at the head of the table clapped her hands together. "Akaashi-kun, as soon as one of us has a chance to tell you what information to include, e-mail an announcement to everyone so they can start choosing people as soon as possible. We’d want to have everything set up by the end of the year." 

"Right." Keiji nodded. "Thank you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Forgive the length of this chapter, the others are going to be much longer (this fic is 54k in total) also this is the worst chapter whoops (chapter 2 is like 5k or 6k and it's much better yikes)
> 
> Updates every Thursday! (wow I'm on top of it this time)
> 
> Comments/Kudos always appreciated!
> 
> Follow me on tumblr!: [violist-yamaguchi (main)](http://violist-yamaguchi.tumblr.com) or [hanwritesstuff (writing)](http://hanwritesstuff.tumblr.com)


	2. Chapter 2

"We're not going to worry about the possibility of a job until it happens. We're going to sit down, watch a movie, and relax for a few hours, that's it."

Kei rolled his eyes. "Don't try that mind control crap on me at a time like this."

"Please, you know I can't do anything close to  _ actual  _ mind control." Yamaguchi grinned. 

"You definitely can, I’ve seen you do it and there's a chance it’ll work without you realizing it. That's what worries me." Kei smirked. “Did you really think you could try to get that past me?”

"Come on!" Yamaguchi let out a dramatically exasperated sigh. "I know this is risky, but how long has it been since we've gone on an actual date?"

Kei blinked once, twice. Had that ever happened without some kind of superhero bullshit being involved one way or the other?

"Exactly." Yamaguchi gave him a look. "Besides, you look stressed, and since  _ we haven't chosen our backups yet  _ -"

"Hey, I said I'd think about it." Kei crossed his arms as the movie theater line moved one person forward. "It's a hard decision." 

"You've had two weeks to think about it!"

"That's not enough time for this." Kei frowned. "Do you have anyone in mind? Because that would make my decision a lot easier."

"I do, but we’ve already talked about them and you refuse to agree with me,” Yamaguchi said. “Even though they're our best option.”

“Are they really?”

“ _ Yes _ .” Yamaguchi chuckled. “We can work out the details tomorrow, we’re about to buy movie tickets so focus on  _ that _ .”

“Fine.” Kei smirked. “Just don’t blame me if everything goes to hell in a few minutes.”

“Tsukki, you’re gonna jinx it!”

Kei shrugged. “Whatever happens, happens. It has nothing to do with me.”

Yamaguchi pouted, taking another step forward in line. “Do you just not want to do this? Because I can -”

“No, that’s not what I meant.” Kei paused, trying to think of exactly what he  _ did _ mean. He didn't want Yamaguchi to worry about this being a waste of time, because it wasn't, but at the same time... “I’m just skeptical, that’s all. What if something happens and we’re not prepared for it?”

“We can get out of the movie early if we need to if that’s what you’re trying to say.”

“Hm.” Kei narrowed his eyes. He wasn’t trying to brush anything off - his schedule was just as busy as Yamaguchi’s was, and both of them having the time for something like this was rare - but he couldn’t help but be slightly apprehensive. 

“Whatever.” Yamaguchi let out a breath, fully visible in the late October air. “I don’t know about you, but I’m going to forget all that until something happens.”

“I wish it was that easy.”

“It isn’t.” Yamaguchi smiled. “But I’m going to try it anyway.”

Another person took their ticket and left, the line slowly but surely shifting up. A particularly strong wind cut right through the fabric of Kei's jacket, making him barely shiver. 

"Are you cold?" Yamaguchi asked. "Because you can take my scarf if you want it, I don't need it."

"No, then you'll be cold."

Yamaguchi just laughed. "I never get cold, you know that!"

"I beg to differ."

"Mm." Yamaguchi hummed to himself, facing the front of the line again. "I wonder why the line's moving so slowly."

Just as the next people in line stepped up to the window, leaving them at the very front, Yamaguchi's phone started ringing. His face fell as soon as he saw who was calling.

"Is that who I think it is?" Kei asked.

"Mm-hm." Yamaguchi held the phone up to his ear, trying to hide his clear disappointment. "Hi, Yachi-san!" He paused. "Yeah, what's going on?" He sighed, unable to mask it anymore. "Okay, we're on it." He laughed out of courtesy. "No, no, you're not doing anything wrong, it's just -" He closed his eyes and let out a breath. "Yeah. Exactly. Thanks for letting me know." He paused again. "Bye!" He put the phone back in his pocket, looking over at Kei again with an awkward chuckle. "Well, I guess we have other plans."

"Can I say I told you so now?"

"Yeah, I guess you did." Yamaguchi led the way out of line, eliciting weird stares from some of the people behind him. "But this was nice while it lasted."

“This is more interesting, anyway.” Kei shrugged.

“Excuse you, I've been waiting for that movie for months!” Yamaguchi laughed before dropping his voice down to a whisper. “Do you have everything?”

“Yeah, you?”

“Mmhm.” Yamaguchi nodded.

“All right.” Kei’s eyes swept across the scene, making sure that no one was watching or listening. “Let's get this over with.”

Yamaguchi grinned, leading the way down the street. After a few seconds, he ducked into the first relatively unpopulated spot off the main road, a dark and empty alleyway with a truck parked halfway down, shedding his raincoat and scarf and shoving them in his backpack. 

Now that he wasn't covered up anymore, he looked completely different. Dressed in all black, he looked substantially more badass than he had before. He was smiling just like he was before, but it looked brighter now. It had more energy, more fire, more confidence, more... just  _ more  _ in general.

"Are you going to change or not?" Yamaguchi laughed. 

"Yeah, yeah, give me a second." Kei was incredibly glad that it was dark enough to hide the blush creeping across his cheeks that was only barely influenced by the cold. He unbuttoned his jacket as quickly as he could, folding it up before putting it in his bag. He wished he had somewhere he could keep everything, but for now, this had to do.

By the time he'd finished taking his jacket off, Yamaguchi already had a different one on. It was the standard green one that blended in with the black in the low light, unbuttoned and blowing in the wind. Come to think of it, he never wore it buttoned up as far as Kei knew; did it have buttons at all? Did it have a zipper that he just hadn't noticed?

Speaking of zippers, Kei made sure to bring his up all the way up to his neck when he put on his matching dark red jacket. It was cold; he didn't care about looking cool when it was freezing like this. It would severely impede his ability to get the job done well if he let the rain hit his chest. 

"Oh." Yamaguchi looked in his bag with a grin, pulling out a domino mask. It was too dark to see exactly what color it was, but it definitely looked more red than green. "Look what I found."

"Why do you have that?" Kei narrowed his eyes, plucking the mask out of Yamaguchi's hands. 

"Dunno." Yamaguchi shrugged. "Didn't notice until right now. You'd better have mine."

"I don't know who else's it would be." Kei dug through his own bag and pulled out the corresponding mask, handing it over before taking his glasses off and slipping the red one on over his eyes. 

"Do I look okay?" Yamaguchi struck a cheesy pose, eyes covered by the green mask.

"Yes, you look fine, where are we going?"

Yamaguchi took out his phone and tapped the screen a few times. "Roughly fifteen blocks north of here." He turned around, facing deeper into the alley, still looking down at his phone. His phone case sparkled in what little light there was, the blue-and purple galaxy print just as glittery as always.

"Has anyone recognized your case yet?" Kei asked with a smirk. 

"Like people at school?" Yamaguchi turned the phone over in his hands. "Not yet. I don't think they'd believe it was me even if the evidence was right in front of their faces."

"The irony was always the best part of all this." Kei shrugged.

"You can't say anything like that until we've been doing this for  _ at least _ a year." Yamaguchi put his phone in the pocket of his jacket and zipped it up. "Let's go."

"Right." 

Kei couldn't do much but watch as Yamaguchi hopped up into the air, eyes flashing bright behind the mask as he stopped moving, hovering in place for a second. He briefly looked down in childlike amazement before turning to Kei with a smile. "Come on, we've wasted enough time already, what's with you today?" He paused, smile turning eerily mischievous. "You're still reeling from the fact that our date was so rudely interrupted so you're going to act head over heels in love with me all night to make up for it."

Kei was about to say something in response before he realized that Yamaguchi was absolutely right. “The Perks of Having a Telepathic Boyfriend”, the new hit comedy Wednesdays at eight.

“You’re cute.” Yamaguchi giggled, eyes crinkled up. If anything, he was the cute one.

“Can you do me a favor and not call me cute ever again?”

“Hm...” Yamaguchi trailed off. “No.”

Kei rolled his eyes, getting a little ways into the air himself. He always started off low. He didn’t know why, it was probably just a nervous habit from sixth grade or something. “Lead the way.”

“Got it.” Yamaguchi stared down the alley before racing off into the darkness like a rocket, leaving Kei with no other option but to try and keep up. 

They burst out the other side of the alley considerably higher than they were before, the wind rushing through their hair and turning their cheeks pink. Yamaguchi was smiling big and wide, heading up at the last minute to avoid a building directly in front of him. Of course, Kei followed, letting himself be pleasantly surprised that actually flying had become something this normal over the past five years.

"There it is!" Yamaguchi shouted, his voice swallowed up by the wind as he pointed down at a spot a few blocks ahead of them. 

"Hm?" Kei looked down at where he was pointing, instantly recognizing the crowd gathered around the entrance to a building. "Did Yachi-san tell you what was happening?"

"She said it's a glorified robbery. As far as she knows, only the leader has any kind of powers or anything, the rest are completely normal."

"What kind of powers would those be?"

"Don't know." Yamaguchi narrowed his eyes at the scene of the crime. "Look at the sidewalk around the door, does that look like ice to you?"

"I don't wear my glasses on jobs, remember?"

"That's inconvenient." Yamaguchi frowned. "Didn't you say you were going to look into contacts last month?"

"They're weird."

"Weird but practical." Yamaguchi started descending before touching down a little ways away from the door. "Have a plan?"

"Not really." Kei still couldn't see the scene clearly, but it was at least the kind of blurry where he could make out the basics. "Neither of us really have a distinct advantage."

"Okay." Yamaguchi crossed his arms. "I'll go in, you follow and cover me?"

"Fine."

Yamaguchi grinned before he started walking down the street, putting on his best Publicity Voice. "Did someone here order express delivery?”

The crowd turned at the sound of his voice. Some people screamed. A little kid started crying. Why did someone bring their kid here? This was a crime scene.

With barely a running start, Yamaguchi took off and jumped over them all, adding a flip in before he hit the ground. 

_ Show off _ , Kei thought to himself with a smirk, instead taking the easy way out and walking straight through the part in the middle of the crowd that led right to the door. 

“We’re getting in and out as fast as possible, I want to at least try to finish what we started before this got in the way.” Yamaguchi stood in front of the doors as they slid open automatically, taking long strides inside the building,

It was  _ cold _ . As expected, considering the person behind this had ice powers, but it was even more freezing than it was outside. Kei shivered as the doors shut behind him. 

“Watch out for the ice, it's slippery!” Yamaguchi called out. 

“I would if I could!”

Yamaguchi laughed. “I'm going on, stay right behind me.”

“Got it.”

The building looked like an apartment complex or a hotel. The lobby was filled with large chairs, with a fireplace against one wall and a TV right above it. There was a desk in the corner without anyone sitting at it. 

Kei followed Yamaguchi up a flight of stairs, wondering what was waiting for them at the top.

Gunfire was not something he expected.

“Crap!” Yamaguchi gritted his teeth, focus shooting over to a hallway on the other side of the landing. “Can you take care of this?”

“Yeah, I've got it.” Kei took the situation into account. Five people with helmets and guns, all shorter than him. He probably should have been more scared than he was. “I'll catch up with you in a minute."

"Don't be late!" Yamaguchi singsonged, skirting around the landing to get to the hallway. Three of the five guys turned around with him, guns locked and loaded.

"Damn, it's like I'm not even here," Kei muttered. Everyone's focus was right back on him, just where he wanted it. 

"You know what they say about him," the guy in the back whispered. "He's not tough to beat."

Funny, Kei was just about to use that same phrase to describe  _ them _ .

He closed his eyes for a split second, knowing all too well the danger of letting his guard down at a time like this. Feet planted firmly on the floor, he sent a current down from his neck through his legs, trying to connect with the particles on the ground. An endless field of them spread out in front of him; the domino effect could easily take it from here.

His eyes shot open just as the spark hit the floor and the shockwave began. A ripple of lightning raced across the floor, taking everyone on it by surprise. All five of the men were either knocked off their feet or left dazed by the attack.

Rule number one: don't underestimate your enemy.

After sending one more shockwave out to make sure everyone was appropriately dealt with - it wasn't anywhere near lethal - Kei walked into the hallway, trying to figure out which of the many doors Yamaguchi had taken. A bright light caught his eye, coming from a door at the end of the hallway.  _ Bingo _ .

He jogged down to the door, surprised to find it wide open, and walked inside. He took it slow, just in case.

In hindsight, “my boyfriend just killed a man” wasn’t exactly the most realistic conclusion that Kei could have come to. He could talk some serious shit - he learned from the best, after all - but he wouldn’t hurt a fly. He was far too sweet to kill anyone. 

But to Kei’s credit, he did just walk into a dark room only to see three guys lying unmoving on the floor. That was kind of a lot to take in.

“Shit...” He muttered half-to himself, leaning down to take a look at the first of the three, the tall man closest to the door. He slumped against the wall with closed eyes and a crumpled uniform. The man didn’t wake up when Kei leaned down to check if he was, you know,  _ alive _ , but he had a steady pulse, and he was breathing. He just looked to be asleep. Kei couldn’t say he was surprised. It was a weirdly easy and death-free method of taking someone out.

He didn’t bother to check on the other two, assuming that they’d undergone the same fate, and walked towards the door on the other side of the small room. There was a poster on the ground in front of it, which probably meant that door was supposed to be kept a secret. 

That is, until a few minutes ago.

Kei heard voices on the other side of the door once he pressed his ear to it. There were two people having a conversation: one he recognized, the other he’d never heard before. He knew he was in the right place.

_ I’m ready when you are _ . He tried to broadcast his thoughts through the door, knowing that he was only a tiny part of the plan this time. If at all. 

_ Got it, give me a few seconds _ . The familiar voice on the other side bounced around in his head just like it always did.

_ All right _ . Kei bent his knees and waited for the go-ahead. There didn't seem to be much to it. After a few seconds, he closed his eyes and tried to focus on the conversation. He still couldn't make out much.

This had been happening a lot lately. Out of the last five or six jobs they'd been on, Yamaguchi was the one who had taken the lead on all of them. And he'd been doing a good job at it, too. 

It was just that Kei was someone who was easily bored on stuff like this. It was the only interesting part of his life at the moment.

But he still waited. He could just leave and go home and get a healthy amount of sleep for once in his life, but he had a job to do. He was on backup, he was the cleanup crew, and that job was more important than anyone else could ever guess. 

So he stayed here.

_ Do you mind if you don't really do anything this time? _ Yamaguchi sounded, of all things, sure of himself.

_ Why? _ That wasn’t exactly what Kei was expecting to hear. Yamaguchi had definitely asked to take over before, it was basically the usual by now, but he’d never said anything like that. 

_ I’ve got it mostly done already. _ Kei could practically see Yamaguchi’s awkward smile on the other side of that door.  _ I can definitely finish it off _ .

_ Okay _ ... Kei wasn’t exactly sure that he didn’t want to take part in any of this, but he could at least handle it if that’s what ended up happening. He had his time to shine, and it traded off. That was just how it worked, and he’d gotten more than used to it.

_ Thanks! _ Yamaguchi sounded excited on the other end, and he had every right to be.

_ I’ll be right here in case anything happens _ .

_ All right, see you soon! _ The weird channel that the two of them used to connect their thoughts once again returned to psychic static, and Kei was forced to keep waiting.

He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t worried. Ever since Yamaguchi had started to really develop his mental abilities sometime in September, he’d only overexhausted himself more, and even though he was getting out more and playing the lead role he was always meant to play, he still got himself in harm’s way much more than necessary. While Kei had enough experience dealing with it that he could do it in his sleep, it was still more stressful than it really should have been.

The door burst open without warning, almost hitting Kei in the face in the process, and Yamaguchi practically bounced out of the room, the grin on his face wider than it usually was after jobs like this. That was probably a good sign.

“Hi, Tsukki!” Yamaguchi made it seem like he was trying to draw out for the “i” as long as possible, something that always seemed to bring an unwanted blush to Kei’s cheeks that completely stripped him of his nonchalant persona.

“Did it go okay without me?” Kei asked.

“Yeah.” Yamaguchi paused. “Well, as well as it  _ could  _ go without you.”

“That’s... comforting?”

“Good.”

“Did you do anything over-the-top or anything?”

“Are you worrying about me again?” Yamaguchi nervously laughed like he was trying to hide something. “I didn’t do  _ anything _ , this was easy.”

“Okay...?”

“Do you not trust me?" Yamaguchi frowned.

"Why wouldn’t I trust you?" Kei asked.

"I don't know." Yamaguchi shrugged. "How about you, did everything go okay on your end?"

"It took all of two minutes, it was easy."

"That's good." Yamaguchi smiled. "Well, it's a long trip home, we should probably get going soon."

"Yeah, if we can get through the mob that's waiting outside." Kei smirked.

Yamaguchi stopped for a second before he sighed, shoulders slumping as he walked.

"You forgot about that, didn't you?"

"Yeah, I did." Yamaguchi stood up straight again, trying to gain some confidence for everyone back out on the street. “Don’t worry, I can handle it.”

Kei pushed open the door and the two of them walked out onto the sidewalk, where there was a huge cluster of people and cameras waiting for them in the cold late October air. More than before, but just as expected. As soon as Yamaguchi walked out, the crowd went wild with cheers and applause. 

"Midori-saaaaaan!" Two little kids effortlessly got Yamaguchi's attention as he walked by. They looked like they were twins, and they didn't look older than Hinata's little sister.

"Hm?" Yamaguchi bent down so he could see eye-to-eye with them. Kei stopped walking and turned around to wait for him.

"Can I ask you a question?" One of the kids asked.

"Of course, what is it?" Yamaguchi was ridiculously good with kids, and this was no exception.

"Um, what do you do to be a superhero?" The other kid asked. Kei could easily see the inspiration lighting up his eyes.

Yamaguchi sucked in a breath. "Well, it's a little hard to be a  _ super _ hero, but it's pretty easy to be a normal hero."

"Really?" The kids' eyes went wide.

"Uh-huh." Yamaguchi nodded. "You just have to try your best to help as many people as you can. Just do a few little things whenever you can. Do you think you can do that?"

The kids both nodded, chock-full of enthusiasm.

"You might not be famous for it, but you'll make a lot of people's lives better, and it feels good." Yamaguchi smiled. "I've gotta go, but I hope that helped!"

"Thank you, Midori-saan!" 

"You're welcome!" Yamaguchi waved before he jogged over to where Kei was standing. "That was so cute!"

"Yeah, they really loved you." Kei kept his hands in his pockets.

“But really, why are people glomping onto  _ me _ now?” 

"People think you're weirdly distant since you can mess with people's heads, so when they find out you're a down-to-earth, normal person, they're happy you defied their assumptions." Kei shrugged. "It's that simple."

Yamaguchi raised his eyebrows. "Is it, though?"

"Aka-kun!" Before Kei could even register what was going on, someone had shoved a microphone in his face. Great.

"Would you care to explain your role tonight?" A female reporter looked up at him expectantly, hair blowing in the wind. 

"Um..." The truth was that Kei didn't really have one, but he couldn't say that. "I suppose I was on backup in case anything went wrong, but nothing did, so I guess I just got to rest easy and play bait tonight."

"Is that your usual job?"

"It probably is, to be honest." Kei frowned. "At least, it is now." What the hell was up with the weird questions?

"Thank you for your time, Aka-kun." The reporter bowed her head and walked back into the mob of people, disappearing in the crowd after a few seconds.

Kei stood there for a second as he wondered what exactly just happened with a weird sense of deja vu that he couldn’t explain.

"What's wrong?" Yamaguchi asked, instantly by his side again.

"It's nothing." Kei shook his head. "The questions were weird, that's all."

"Hm." Yamaguchi frowned. "Let's get out of here."

"Okay."

They made their way through the crowd, smiling at anyone who congratulated them but trying to move quickly. They eventually escaped the mob and found refuge in an alleyway, leaning on a wall where they could catch their breath until they were ready for the trip back home. 

When Yamaguchi started sliding down the wall, Kei initially just brushed it off as him wanting to sit down for a few minutes, which was fine. He was the one who did all the work, he had a right to be tired afterward.

But once Yamaguchi had gone a minute without saying anything or even really moving, Kei realized that something was very,  _ very  _ wrong.

"Yamaguchi?" Kei lightly poked him in the shoulder three or four times, but he didn't budge. "Hey, are you all right?"

Idiot. Of course he wasn't all right. Kei saw this coming and he knew it was going to happen, but he'd been too caught up in everything to actually prepare for it and now he was knee-deep in his own lack of planning.

With a long and exasperated sigh, Kei scooped Yamaguchi's unconscious body in both arms and walked further into the alley. It was exactly opposite from the direction he was going to go, but he knew what he was doing.

There were barely any people out once they reached the street on the other side, and Kei's footsteps echoed every time he took a step. It was quiet, and the only sound that Kei could really hear besides his own footsteps were two sets of almost-silent breathing.

He was sure of one thing: he wasn't going home. He had another place he could go, and it had been far too long since he'd taken advantage of it. He knew where he was going, or at least he thought he did. He had been here countless times, but he was never good with directions this late at night. He hoped he was going the right way.

He thought he looked as calm as he possibly could for the situation to anyone who happened to pass by, but he was terrified. He always was. His worst nightmare was coming true, and even though he knew it would, it still scared him to the core.

Once he turned onto a barely-lit street, he knew he was in the right place. The ramen place on the corner was just as he remembered it, even if it was closed now, and he knew the apartment building he was looking for was just a short walk away. He should have called someone to let them know where he was, but that could wait. 

The only hard part was actually getting into the building and getting up to the third floor, apartment 304. He at least remembered that much. There was probably somebody at the front desk, and walking in like he was about to do would certainly be hard to explain. 

Until he realized that he still had his uniform on.

The simple jacket-mask combo had gotten him out of a lot of sticky situations in the past. People had asked him questions, sure, and he was certainly a lot more noticeable in uniform, but no one thought his actions were ever suspicious. Everyone just brushed them off as him acting for the greater good, because apparently he was just that much of a Good Samaritan.

He took Yamaguchi’s mask off and stuffed it in the pocket of his jacket. Hopefully that would make him seem like a normal person.

Kei took a breath before he walked into the lobby, where there was a woman sitting at the desk, just as he expected. She was too focused on whatever was on her computer to care, though, and she had a pair of headphones covering her ears. Kei slipped through without any problem, walking towards the stairs.

Upon reaching the third floor, he walked down the hall until he reached a red door with the number 304 on a brass plate. He gave two knocks and regretted not calling earlier.

“Coming!” The voice on the other side of the door sounded exasperated, which was completely justified with it being eleven at night and all.

“Christ, why is anyone coming to my door this late -” Akiteru’s eyes widened once he realized just who was standing outside his apartment. “Kei?”

“Yes?” Kei asked.

“What are you doing here?”

“Can we talk about this later, my arms are a little sore.”

Akiteru slowly nodded. “Y-yeah, let's do that.”

Kei walked inside the tiny apartment and lightly set Yamaguchi down on the couch before he sat down himself, practically falling into the cushion. He was exhausted just from the walk.

“So, what happened?” Akiteru asked, sitting down on a chair at the table. “This doesn't look good.”

“I'm used to it.” Kei shrugged. “It happens all the time, trust me.”

“Does that mean you're carrying him back home every time?”

“Usually, yes.”

“Kei, what the hell!”

“It works, I just didn't want to make the trip this time.”

“Did you even tell Mom? She’s going to kill you for not coming home!” Akiteru crossed his arms. 

“I was going to tell her when I got here, it’s not a big deal.” Kei frowned, taking his phone out of his pocket. “I told you, I do this all the time.”

“Well, I guess you  _ are  _ the part-time superhero out of the two of us.” Akiteru shrugged. “If you know what you're doing, I won't try to change it.”

“Great.” Kei sent a quick text to his mom saying he was going to be home tomorrow before sending the same message to Yamaguchi’s mom. He didn't mention the passing out part. That would just cause more worry than was necessary.

“Wouldn't it be better to call?” Akiteru asked.

“Didn't you just say you weren't going to try to change it?”

“Kei, this isn't normal!”

“It is for me.”

Akiteru sighed. “Fine. Just be careful, okay?”

“I am being careful, that's why I came here.” Kei rolled his eyes. “I know how to deal with this, just let me do it.”

“Okay, okay.” Akiteru defensively put his hands up. “I'm stepping out of your business.”

The two of them fell silent after that. Kei sat half-asleep on the couch while Akiteru went into the bathroom. He returned a minute later with a wet washcloth in hand.

“What are you doing?” Kei asked.

“I don't really know.” Akiteru walked over to place the washcloth on Yamaguchi’s forehead. “Is this any different than usual?”

“Not really.”

“I guess that's good.” Akiteru smiled. “So how was everything otherwise? Was it fun?”

Kei frowned. “Not really. I didn't do anything.”

“Sounds like a blast.” Akiteru yawned. "I'm going to try to get to bed."

"Really? It's only eleven."

"I like getting enough sleep once in a while, you should try it sometime." Akiteru stood up, stretching his arms up above his head. "There's pillows and blankets in the closet, but if Tadashi's on the couch, you're taking the floor."

Kei shrugged. His back would hate him for it later, but he didn't exactly have a choice.

"Okay, 'night." Akiteru walked over to one of the two doors on the side wall and opened it, giving a quick wave before he disappeared inside. 

Kei didn't want to get up. He'd just endured what could easily be described as a test of his physical strength, and he just wanted to stay here and sleep for a few days. But he knew for a fact that if he did that, Yamaguchi would end up kicking him in his sleep, so sleeping on the floor it was.

He begrudgingly stood up and walked over to open the closet, grabbing the pile of blankets and comforters off a shelf and dropping them on the floor. After spreading a thin fleece blanket out on top of Yamaguchi - the nights were starting to get very chilly right around now - he set a comforter down on the floor to lie down on top of, just so he wouldn't have to sleep on the floor itself. He realized he had to stand up once again to grab a pillow out of the closet, and once he did, he put it on top of the comforter and lay down, laying another blanket out on top of himself before staring up at the ceiling. 

He thought he'd be too nervous to actually get any sleep tonight, but his exhaustion began to overtake him just the same. Somehow that always ended up happening; he'd be freaking out about something or other and then he'd wake up the next morning not knowing how he managed to sleep through it.

Either way, he let his eyes flutter shut, knowing that all this would turn out mostly okay. It always did.

* * *

 

Kei woke up to the sound of quiet creaking against the silence of the room around him. He blearily blinked his eyes open and sat up, trying to find the source of the noise. He had a hunch.

And there Yamaguchi was, sitting with his legs crossed on the sofa. He looked exhausted, the dark circles under his eyes plain as day even in the dark. But the look in his eyes themselves made everything so much worse.

"Yamaguchi?” Kei asked, trying not to startle him.

Yamaguchi still jumped, eyes widening as his head spun around. His expression softened once he saw Kei sitting there, but he still looked nervous. “...Hi.”

“Hey.” Kei frowned. “Are you okay?”

“I guess.” Yamaguchi shrugged with a weak smile. He looked horrible. “Could be better.”

“Oh.” Kei blinked, trying to keep his eyes open. "It's three AM, why are you awake?"

"Couldn't sleep." Yamaguchi stared out into space, the white numbers of the alarm clock on the dresser illuminating his face. "You know how it is."

"I don't, but continue."

Yamaguchi chuckled. "Yeah, I guess you don't." He sighed. "Sorry for worrying you, I should have said something."

Kei shrugged. "It's too late to do anything about it now. Need anything?"

"I think I'm okay."

"Good." Kei lay back down again. "Go to bed, we both need to sleep this off."

"I'll try, but..." Yamaguchi trailed off.

"What, do you need a goodnight kiss or something?" Kei asked, not entirely sure he was being sarcastic. He hoped he wasn't.

"I don't  _ need  _ one, but I'll gladly take one if you're offering." Yamaguchi grinned. He was acting at least somewhat like his normal self now. Even if it was just an act to get Kei to stop worrying about him - which Kei highly suspected it was - it worked a little and he pulled it off petty well. That in itself was more reassuring than anything.

"I'm definitely offering." Kei smirked, climbing up next to Yamaguchi on the couch.

"Good." Yamaguchi smiled and leaned in to kiss him like it was nothing. 

The kiss was short, only a little longer than a second elapsing before the two of them pulled away from each other. They'd done this before, and it showed. It was soft, simple, and effortless, and to be fair, they were too tired to try that hard. 

The weirdest part of it was that Kei was more than ready to describe it as peaceful, of all things. The word implied so much - comfort, lack of tension or fear, unabated goodness - and yet all of it was true. 

"Are you going to be able to sleep now?" Kei asked.

"Probably." Yamaguchi smiled. "Thank you."

"Welcome." Kei slid off the edge of the sofa and back down onto the floor. "You can come down here whenever if you need to, whatever makes you comfortable."

"Okay." Yamaguchi instantly got off the couch, grin wide and toothy when he sat down next to Kei. 

"That was fast."

"You never initiate  _ anything _ , I'll take what I can get." Yamaguchi chuckled. "Is this okay?"

"Yeah, it's fine." Kei nodded, laying back on the floor. 

"...Hey, Tsukki?" Yamaguchi asked.

"Yeah?" 

"Am I... a burden or anything?" Yamaguchi's voice was quiet and hesitant. 

"Of course not." Kei frowned. "You scare me to death once a month but you aren't a pain in the ass "

"Oh."

"You're..." Kei trailed off, trying to think of what to say. "...just too far ahead for me to keep up with you."

"Am I really?"

"Definitely, go to bed." Kei closed his eyes, already starting to drift off. He was much more exhausted than he thought. 

He didn't hear anything telling him that Yamaguchi had done the same. He didn't hear a quiet thump next to him or the creaking of the floor or anything. For all he knew, Yamaguchi was still sitting there, and when he cracked his eyes open, there he was. 

"Tadashi, come on..." Kei's voice was slurred from exhaustion; he didn't notice and barely cared. "Get some sleep."

Yamaguchi froze instantly, eyes wide and mouth ever so slightly open. Kei wondered what he could have done wrong.

“Are you okay?” Kei reached out and poked Yamaguchi’s arm. “You’re stiff.”

“...You just called me Tadashi.”

“I did?” Kei raised an eyebrow before looking back up at the ceiling again. “Doesn’t matter all that much.”

“Are you that tired?”

“Definitely.” Kei let out a breath. “Mind if I stick with it?”

“Not at all.” Tadashi smiled, laying back with a huff, his face half consumed by the pillow. “I like it.”

“Are you going to actually sleep now?”

“Yeah.” Tadashi closed his eyes, pulling his blanket up to his chin. “Goodnight, Kei.”

Kei could feel his cheeks flushing bright red. He guessed this was how Tadashi felt a few seconds ago. “Goodnight, Tadashi.”

He fell asleep again to the sound of light snoring from Tadashi, comforting white noise in the background. His breathing eventually evened out and was barely audible as he drifted off.

* * *

 

“Did you see this?” 

“Hm?” Kei looked up from the table to see Akiteru frowning at something on his phone. Tadashi was, of course, still asleep, and the two of them had spent the morning catching up and, in Kei’s case, raiding the fridge. “What is it?”

“Look.” Akiteru held his phone out, turning it so Kei could see the screen. That didn’t mean Kei could read it, so he took the phone himself. “As you would say, it smells like bullshit.”

“I’m sure.” Kei scrolled up to the top of the page. It was a news article. Of course. “Why should I care?”

“Read it.” Akiteru took another bite of his cereal. “You’ll be surprised.”

“You know how much of a stretch that is.” Kei looked up at Akiteru over the top of the phone. “I’m not really surprised by any of this anymore.”

“I know exactly how much of a stretch it is and I know what I said.”

Kei blinked once, not entirely sure what Akiteru was trying to say, before he looked at the article again. 

Akiteru was so right.

“What the hell is this?” Kei narrowed his eyes, reading the headline. “‘Aka’s Fall From Grace’?”

“It’s everywhere.” Akiteru frowned. “You really haven’t seen it?”

“No.” Kei paused. “Have you been keeping up with reviews and everything?”

“No, I’ve just been seeing whatever’s on Twitter.” Akiteru shrugged. “I haven’t really been paying attention. Why?”

“Unless I've missed something big, it’s all been normal until now.” Kei scowled, scrolling through the article. It was just dumb bashing, just as he expected from a headline like that. There were multiple paragraphs each on what he did wrong, everything he said in interviews, all worthless critiques from people who didn't know what they were talking about, but why? And why now? “I’m just not sure why last night caused all this. I didn’t do -” He stopped in his tracks. “Shit.”

“What’s wrong?”

“I didn’t do  _ anything _ .” Kei looked at the article again. 

“Don’t you usually not do anything?” Akiteru asked. 

“Shut up.”

“But really, though.” Akiteru looked down at the table, resting his chin in one hand. “You talked about a switch between you and Tadashi a while back. Did that happen?”

“Yeah, but that was in August. Why did it take this long for people to notice?”

“I don’t know, things like this just happen,” Akiteru said. “Don’t make much of it, I’m sure this is just a one-time thing.”

Kei sighed. “Yeah, you’re probably right.”

"And even if it isn't, you'll find a way to deal with it." Akiteru smiled. "You always do."

"I hope so."

Akiteru picked up the glass of water on the table and took a sip before something flashed in his eyes as he looked at something behind Kei. He set his glass down on the table with a grin. "Hey, would you look who's up?"

Kei turned around to see Tadashi waking up, sitting on the floor as he rubbed his eyes. He looked significantly tinier than usual. 

"Doing okay?" Akiteru asked.

"Yeah." Tadashi nodded slowly, blinking a few times. "What time is it?"

"Just before eleven-thirty." Kei frowned. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm sure." Tadashi nodded again. "I still have a headache, but other than that I'm fine."

"So what  _ is _ this?" Akiteru asked. "Kei never told me."

"You never asked."

"I never had the time to when you showed up to my apartment at midnight." Akiteru frowned. "Is it like a psychic hangover or something?"

Tadashi laughed, quiet and tinkly and so goddamn  _ weak _ -sounding that it made something in Kei's chest hurt. "Essentially."

"Well, it's good to know that you're okay." Akiteru chuckled. "Last night was kind of a mess, I'm glad we didn't have to do anything more than this."

"Sorry." Tadashi looked down at the floor. "I didn't mean to -"

"Don't worry about it, it's fine," Akiteru said. "Everything's okay now, and that's what matters." He briefly glanced over at Kei. "Well, almost everything."

Kei blinked. What was that supposed to mean? "I'm not talking about that right now, that isn't important." 

"What happened?" Tadashi asked. 

Kei was about to give at least a few details, something vague that they could go into in more detail on later. No matter what he said, that's what they would do anyway at some point soon. But something stopped him. He  couldn't tell Tadashi about this. He'd just worry about it and that wouldn't help anyone, especially not at a time like this.

The realization hit Kei like a steamroller a few minutes later, when he avoided the subject and was changing in the bathroom. He looked in the mirror to make sure his hair wasn't all over the place and everything hit him all at once when he looked at his reflection. 

Kei couldn't tell Tadashi about this because Tadashi had gone through the same thing. Except in his case, it was a lot worse. When Kei got bad press for not doing anything, it was probably because he actually wasn't doing anything, but Tadashi got bad press for everything in the first few months. He tried as hard as he could, he did his part, he nearly killed himself on multiple occasions for a variety of reasons, but he was never good enough for them. For a while, no one appreciated him nearly as much as they should have, and Kei hated his past self for not doing more to change that.

Which, of course, was why he couldn't say anything. It was inconsiderate, for one, for Kei to complain about this one thing like the period of Tadashi's life from March to June didn't exist. And for another, it was his stupid problem. Why should Tadashi even care?

Kei was just fine keeping it to himself for as long as he needed to.   


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's technically still wednesday night here but ao3's going to display it as thursday so here it is the actual good first chapter
> 
> [@violist-yamaguchi](http://violist-yamaguchi.tumblr.com)/[@hanwritesstuff](http://hanwritesstuff.tumblr.com) on tumblr and [@matsuhannah](https://twitter.com/matsuhannah) on twitter!
> 
> *whispering into the void* hey y'all should comment or smth


	3. Chapter 3

Kei didn't know how he'd gotten himself roped into this. He didn't know when he'd agreed to it - he probably didn't agree to it at all, considering his boyfriend had  _ mind control powers _ \- and he sure as hell didn't know why Tadashi thought this was a good idea.

But here he was, on an otherwise normal Monday, standing behind Tadashi in the club room and waiting for him to say what he needed to say. 

"Are they still practicing?" Tadashi frowned, looking down at his phone. "It's been fifteen minutes."

"Did you tell them you wanted to talk to them?" Kei asked.

"Yeah, I told them." Tadashi looked out the window for a second. "And Yachi-san's in there with them, she  _ knows _ ."

"They'll be here." Kei, for once, wanted them to show up so he could get this over with and go home. 

"Hey, Tsukki?" Tadashi asked.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for agreeing to this." Tadashi smiled. "I know you wanted other people for backups, and I..." He paused. "Thanks for trusting me, I guess."

"You're the one with the experience on all this, I'd be an idiot not to trust your judgment to some degree."

Tadashi laughed, looking out the window again. "Speaking of idiots..."

Barely a few seconds later, the club room door slammed open and Hinata ran in out of breath, Kageyama and Yachi close behind him. "Sorry we're late, I totally forgot!"

"It's fine, don't worry about it." Tadashi looked around at the other four people in the room. "We're all here, right?"

"Yeah." Yachi nodded. 

"What are we doing?" Kageyama asked. 

"I'll explain in a few seconds." Tadashi sat down on the floor with his legs crossed, everyone else quickly following suit. "Don't worry, this shouldn't take long."

"It'd better not," Kei muttered. 

Tadashi turned around and shot him a look before instantly reverting back to his usual cheerful persona as he looked at Hinata and Kageyama. "Has Yachi-san told you anything more than what I've already said? I don't want to repeat anything if I can help it."

"Nope!" Hinata shook his head. "We just know that this is important."

"Okay." Tadashi let out a breath. "This might take a while to explain, but you'll probably catch on before I'm done."

"Are you sure about that?" Kei asked under his breath. 

"Tsukki, don't be mean!" Tadashi elbowed him in the side.

"Hey, Yamaguchi?" Hinata asked.

"Yeah?"

"Is this a superhero question?" Hinata's eyes lit up as he asked the question.  _ If only he knew _ .

"Yeah, it is." Tadashi nodded. "So we -" He pointed briefly to Kei, Yachi, and then himself - “We're not a standalone unit or anything. We're just one branch of the government's Hero Project that I forgot the full name of but it's long and it doesn't matter." He let out a breath. "Basically, there's an Executive Board in Tokyo that makes a bunch of decisions that we have to follow. My mom's on it."

"She is?" Kei asked. He definitely didn't know that before.

"Yeah, you didn't know that?" 

"I had no idea."

"Interesting." Tadashi looked back at Hinata and Kageyama again. "Anyway, the Board started a new policy a few weeks ago and we have until November 15 or something to get things figured out." He looked at Kei with a frown. "But aren't some people done with the whole process already?"

Kei shrugged. "I'm sure."

“I just thought the Tokyo people would be bragging to you about it." Tadashi took a quick breath. "So basically, the new policy is that every branch has to have a main pair and two backup members to fill in in case one or both of the main members can't be on a job for whatever reason -"

"Are you serious?" Hinata's eyes went ridiculously wide.

Kageyama rolled his eyes. "He hasn't even finished yet, dumbass."

"Kageyama, are you really that  _ dense _ ?" Hinata giggled like a little kid. "He's asking  _ us _ !"

"He never said that."

"He was about to, right, Yamaguchi?"

"Mmhm." Tadashi nodded with a grin. "So what do you say?"

"Yes!" Hinata shouted before Tadashi even finished.

Kageyama shrugged. "Sure."

"You're only giving the opportunity of a lifetime a 'sure'?" Hinata sighed. "Kageyama, you're such a killjoy."

Tadashi laughed. "You just have to clear it with your parents first." He smirked, the tone of his voice getting significantly more mischievous. "I can definitely argue if you need me to."

Kei felt a chill rush up his spine. What the hell was that supposed to mean?

"Okay!" Hinata nodded. "I'll ask tonight." He looked over at Kageyama. "You're going to ask, too, right?"

"You'll text me thirty times about it no matter what I say."

"Then it's settled." Tadashi stood up again. "Welcome to the cool kids club."

Hinata made a nonhuman noise just barely short of a scream.

* * *

 

The next Friday turned out to be much more important than Kei ever thought it would be. Sure, Hinata and Kageyama were actually getting their powers that night - Kei knew he'd regret that later on - and that was the main part of it. But the job he was on at the moment, as monotonous as it was, was the one that would tell him if last week's reviews were just a fluke. He didn't know what to do if they weren't and this was a trend after all, but he could think about that later.

He made a point to actually do something this time, at least something visible. He'd never been much of a show-off, but he needed to take whatever opportunities he could get, and if that meant putting himself more out in the open, so be it. He didn't make much of it; he always just did what needed to be done. Nothing more, nothing less.

It certainly helped that he was out in the middle of the street this time.

He took a few steps back until his back was pressed against Tadashi's. They were just about cornered, but that had never stopped them before. Especially when they were being boxed in by a single robot on either side. They were fairly large robots, but still. There were only two of them.

"Have a plan or anything?" Tadashi asked.

"No idea." Kei frowned. "I don't see any obvious weak spots."

"Neither do I." Tadashi exhaled slowly, probably trying to think of something on the spot. "I have an idea."

"What is it?"

"We split up, I try to get both of them in one place and distract them while you come in from behind," Tadashi said. "Notice how they've been facing us this entire time? I feel like that means something."

"Got it." Kei narrowed his eyes, darting off into the crowd of the people on one side of the street. He moved fast and went a little out of his way before running off down a side street, just in case he was being followed. He kept running until the noise died down, certain that he was on his own. 

He looked at the building directly to his right, checking to see if it was high enough to be a good vantage point. He suspected it was maybe ten or so stories high, taller than most of the buildings in this part of town, and shot up into the air, touching down softly on the roof. He could see the main thoroughfare from here easily, and there Tadashi was, not blocked by any trees or other buildings or anything. This was perfect.

Kei got down on his stomach and looked over the edge. He didn't want anyone to see him up here. Someone would take it the wrong way, and no matter what he did later, it wouldn't be worth anything.

His phone buzzed in his pocket, and he begrudgingly took it out only to see a text from Hinata on screen. He wished he'd kept his phone on silent.

 

From: Hinata

5:42 PM

Yamaguchi's not answering my texts :/// when are we meeting up??

 

Kei scowled at the phone before he started typing a response.

 

To: Hinata

5:43 PM

It was supposed to be 6:30 but we'll be late so more like 7

 

From: Hinata

5:43 PM

Aww really?? 

 

To: Hinata

5:43 PM

Yes really, turn on your tv or something

 

From: Hinata

5:44 PM

:o!!! Sorry for interrupting!! Have fun!!

 

Kei put the phone back in his pocket, convinced that each of those exclamation points would take a year off his life, and looked back at what was going on back on the ground.

Tadashi was holding his own pretty well. He'd gotten both of the robots in front of him and was leading them back towards the middle of the street, where Kei guessed he'd take them out. He was slightly surprised that neither of them had gone after him, but they were robots. They weren’t all that strategic. 

Kei looked on in something he refused to believe was wonder as Tadashi expertly maneuvered his way down the street, seemingly without anything even remotely resembling fear. He had a seemingly endless, almost Hinata-like supply of energy that, along with the grin lighting up his face, made him seem ridiculously close to the textbook hero everyone thought he was. For a moment, Kei himself even believed it.

But he knew better than that.

This was just how Tadashi was when he was having a good time with this. He’d stopped trying to be what everyone else thought he was a long time ago.

A thought flickered in the back of Kei’s mind for a split-second, like something was going incredibly wrong. But there was nothing he could think of that  _ could  _ go wrong right now. And it wasn’t the same feeling he got when something actually bad was about to happen, it felt smaller than that, but he didn’t know how or what it meant. 

True to form, he scoffed and ignored it.

He got up to his feet and followed Tadashi along the line of buildings. This seemed like the right time to do it; they could meet up where the street dead-ended and Kei could finish this off. Easy. 

He got ahead of Tadashi by a block or so - easy to do when Tadashi was running backwards - and reached the dead-end first, ready and waiting to jump down and get this whole thing done. This wasn’t one of the jobs that was fun like some of the others were; it was one of the ones that needed to be taken care of because it was just that: a job. Nothing special about it.

And naturally,  _ that _ was where everything went wrong.

It started when both of the robots were in the air at once, just hovering there until Tadashi could do what he wished with them. Was he just waiting for Kei to come in for the kill? That was nice of him. Kei took a step forward, ready to jump down and take the final shot.

Until Tadashi did it for him.

The robots were slammed down to the ground, hitting with an impact that Kei could easily hear. There was an explosion somewhere in there, something was on fire, and neither of them moved. For a second, everything was silent. No one moved, no one said a word. The crowd cheered, but even that was strangely muted in Kei’s ears.

He blinked. What just happened? He hadn’t moved at all. It had only been a second or two, but it was all over. Sure, he wanted to go home just as much as anyone, but he felt weird knowing it was already done before he could get a chance to do anything about it.

The worst part of it all was how long it took him to realize what that meant.

He stayed where he was, hoping no one saw him. He was panting hard, hands shaking, and he hated how stupid this made him look. 

He finally understood why reviews were getting bad. And he knew it was a trend, he’d just never been willing to accept it until now, and if anything, now he knew he deserved it. He hadn’t done anything today, he hadn’t done anything last week, it had been months since he’d done anything notable. He'd barely even been here at all; this would have gone just fine - no,  _ exactly the same _ without him.

He frowned, taking a back way down to the ground again that got him past as few people as possible. He ignored everyone trying to talk to him. He couldn’t say anything right now that wouldn’t get him into more trouble, so he resorted to not saying anything at all. 

He met up with Tadashi at a nondescript corner and the two started off for home, making small talk about anything but what just happened. Tadashi was happy, rightfully so, and Kei didn’t want to change that. 

He just didn’t know what he wanted.

* * *

 

“Tadashi, there you are! What took you so long?”

“Sorry we’re late, mom!” The door shut behind Tadashi as soon as he ran in - obviously, it wasn’t just the wind. He kicked his shoes off, set them down in the corner, and walked into the living room. Kei could barely keep up with him, he was moving so fast. “Are they here yet?”

“We’re right here!” Hinata’s voice rang out loud and clear around the corner. "We've been waiting for you for  _ hours _ !"

"It's been twenty minutes," Kageyama said. 

"Yeah, I'm really sorry we got here late." Tadashi's nervous smile softened into something more genuine. "So, is everything ready?"

"We've just been waiting for you two." Tadashi's mom smiled back. “The people from Tokyo got here a half hour ago and they're all set up.”

"Great." Tadashi sounded like an expert on this whole process. He'd probably done at least some research to prepare. "Is it the same as it was last time?"

"Last time?" Hinata asked. "When was that?"

"Five years ago." Kei walked around the corner with a frown. "I had to do this exact same thing."

"Weird." Hinata narrowed his eyes. He was probably surprised that Kei had done this voluntarily. Kei was tempted to laugh in response. He hadn't always been an absolute killjoy.

"If it  _ is _ the same as last time, you're staying back." Tadashi looked at Kei with a frown. Did he know what was going on? He couldn't have, he definitely would have said something if he had. “It might be kind of dangerous for you to be there if you're not directly involved. “

"All right."

"We're going up to my room, right?" Tadashi looked at his mom again, every hint of negativity completely gone.

"Right," Tadashi's mom replied.

"Okay." Tadashi looked over at Hinata and Kageyama with a grin. "If you're backing out, now's the time to do it."

"What makes you think I'm backing out?" Hinata grinned back, following Tadashi up the stairs. Even Kageyama looked more excited than usual. 

Kei took the couch the two of them had been sitting on, glad that he finally had the opportunity to be mostly alone.

"Do you want anything to eat?"

"Hm?" Kei looked up once he realized that Tadashi's mom was talking to him, essentially her second son. "No, I'm not hungry."

"Well, if you want anything, feel free to ask." Tadashi's mom smiled before turning around to look at something on the counter. 

Kei hadn't brought anything with him other than his phone and a charger. He'd thankfully had just enough time to drop off the rest of his things at his house before he left -after getting out of practice early to boot - but that didn't leave him with much to do. He had a history test on Monday that he probably should have been studying for, but he didn't have the book or anything else he needed to do that. Tadashi probably had it, and it was probably somewhere in this house, but now wasn't exactly the best time for Kei to ask him. Besides, he didn't really feel like studying. 

Kei pulled his phone out of his pocket and did everything he could to avoid opening any of the apps that would tell him just how shitty of a job he did. But that temptation was impossible to resist, despite how illogical it was.

He saw things on Twitter first, links to various articles and blog posts and just tweets on their own. And it was just what he expected to see. Titles like "Where did the old Aka go?" and "Local hero underwhelms the general populace" and "The cycle of disappointment begins: Where the Miyagi Duo's going from here" cluttered up his entire timeline.

Just for a moment, he had the urge to throw his phone to the floor and be done with it already. But his rational side took over just as it should and he stuck the phone in his pocket. 

At least he had the satisfaction of being right.

He crossed his arms and stared at the wall, wishing he knew what he could do from here. He knew from experience that people wanted something specific, and not even they knew what it was. Everything that made sense didn't work. It was just trial and error, trying to find whatever lucky break would get him back into the public's good graces again. And until then, every mistake would just pile up and refuse to go away.

Why did he care? 

He didn't exactly talk to people, and he didn't think anyone's opinion on what he was doing was that important - at least, he thought he didn't - since they had no idea how hard it was. If there was one thing he hated, it was mindless complaining that didn't get anyone anywhere. 

So why was he so obsessed with trying to make himself seem better to everyone? The first thought that popped into his head was that he was afraid of failure, and while that was true, he'd always been the person to define what success and failure were, not anyone else. After that was jealousy, which made even less sense. Why would he be jealous? 

"Something on your mind?" 

"Hm?" Kei hadn't even noticed Tadashi walking down the stairs. He was standing at the bottom with his arms crossed and a small smile on his face. "That was fast."

"Yeah, they'd been set up for a long time waiting for us to get back." Tadashi shrugged, sitting down on the couch. "It only took a few minutes."

"What were you doing up there?"

"Apparently, after they do the whole super serum thing, it needs to settle and spread for an hour before anyone tries out anything, which I guess requires 'stimulated unconsciousness for an extended period of time'." Tadashi exaggerated the air quotes. "I guess they just trust me more than anesthesia or something."

"That's weirdly practical."

"It really is." Tadashi chuckled. "The Freak Duo’s fast asleep upstairs for the next hour or so.” The expression on his face instantly changed to one of concern. “Anyway, what's bothering you?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You've been acting weird since we came back." Tadashi narrowed his eyes. "Is everything okay?"

"Nothing's wrong." Kei wondered if he'd answered too quickly and sounded suspicious. "I'm fine."

"If you say so." Tadashi smiled again. Kei didn't know if he was blissfully unaware or just trying to make him feel better. "Sorry for stealing your thunder earlier."

"It's okay." It wasn’t. 

"Are you sure? Because -"

"Yes, I'm sure. It's fine." Kei quickly exhaled, staring straight down at the floor.

"Okay..." 

Things fell into an awkward silence after that. Kei didn't want to say anything for fear of ruining everything, and he suspected Tadashi felt the same way. He didn't want this to get in the way of everything they had going for them, but it was pretty hard for it not to.

"Well, I'm here if you... have anything to say.” Tadashi frowned. 

“...Thanks.” Kei paused. “Is it okay if I leave now? I have to study for the history quiz, and, uh -”

“Yeah, that's fine, but -” Tadashi sighed, looking up at Kei with a stare that bored right into his soul. “Why can't you tell me what's going on?”

Kei’s eyes widened. That wasn't the question he intended. He bounced back almost instantly, looking down at the floor again. He didn't want to say. “I don't want you to worry about me unnecessarily.” 

Tadashi took a deep breath. “All right. If you really don't want me to bother you about it, I won't -” He interrupted himself and hugged Kei tight. Surprisingly, it was exactly what Kei needed. “Just trust me, okay?”

“Okay.” Kei waited for the hug to end itself naturally before he stood up. “I'm sorry.”

“It’s okay, really.” Tadashi stood up, too. “Thanks, um, for thinking about me. Even if your logic is a little twisted.” He smiled again, walking over to the door. “Want me to walk you home?”

“It's cold, I'm not putting you through that.” This was so awkward. Kei hated it. “See you tomorrow?”

“Usual place?” 

“Yeah.” Kei nodded, opening the door and letting the wind start beating against his cheeks. “Bye.”

“Bye.”

Kei closed the door behind him and started walking down the street, his thoughts racing at breakneck speed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i love posting new chapters of this <33
> 
> tumblr: [@violist-yamaguchi](http://violist-yamaguchi.tumblr.com)/[@hanwritesstuff](http://hanwritesstuff.tumblr.com)


	4. Chapter 4

This was new. 

The first time Tadashi's usually-great decisions got Kei into even worse trouble than he was already in happened to come on Tadashi's sixteenth birthday. Kei knew it wasn't his fault, and he even wondered if he should have told Tadashi earlier before being disgusted with himself. Sure, Tadashi could help, but he would just think the best course of action would be to bring himself down for Kei's sake, and if there was one thing Kei really didn't want to happen, it was that.

But he was still... he didn't know what word to use. Frustrated and disappointed both implied that he was mad at Tadashi, which he wasn't. Bitter was no different than he was most of the time, and something clearly was different about this. Impatient wasn't an accurate description, resentful obviously wasn't it, and desperate was...

Maybe he was desperate. Desperate and conflicted.

No matter how he was feeling, the facts of the matter still stood. Tadashi had taken Kageyama with him on the job to show him the ropes and had left Kei behind to get Hinata used to his newfound powers, saying they'd switch off next time. Kei wasn't sure whether Hinata or Kageyama would be more of a hassle to deal with in this case, but since Kageyama could control water, that presented an obvious safety problem when combined with Kei's electricity powers, so Hinata it was. 

Thank goodness Yachi was here.

"Are you sure your mom won't mind us practicing in your apartment, Yachi-san?" Hinata asked. 

"As long as no one breaks anything, I think it'll be fine." Yachi smiled. "My mom won't be back until nine or so, so you have plenty of time."

"No, we don’t!" Hinata was already starting to walk away from Sakanoshita. 

"It's four hours." Kei rolled his eyes. "Slow down."

Hinata turned around and pouted at him before he started walking again, faster this time, probably just to spite him. Yachi started jogging to keep up with him while Kei just kept walking. He didn't want to expend any more energy than he needed to before the training bullshit even began. 

"So, Tsukishima." Hinata wiggled his eyebrows at Kei once they were outside Yachi's apartment building. "What are we doing?"

"I'm not saying anything about that out here." Kei looked down at him with a frown. Was he really that much of an idiot? People would hear, rumors would spread, identities would be revealed, and that would just make everything worse. 

"You're no fun!"

"I'm really not, you know this."

"Stop fighting, you two." Yachi pushed the door to the building open and walked between the two of them into the lobby, making a beeline for the elevator. 

"Are Yamaguchi and Kageyama coming back here later?" Hinata asked.

"They'd better." Yachi smiled. "It's Yamaguchi-kun's birthday, I didn't get a chance to give him anything at practice."

"What do you have in mind?" Hinata looked over at her with a grin. "Is it a party?"

"Kind of," Yachi said. "It's just the five of us, but I bought a cake, so it should be pretty fun." 

Hinata hummed in satisfaction as he got on the elevator before everyone else. Yachi pushed the button for the eighth floor, and the elevator started moving up. While the two of them were making more small talk, Kei unsurprisingly stayed silent. He doubted either of them expected him to be very conversational.

Yachi led the way down the hall to apartment 802 and unlocked the door, slipping her shoes off before beckoning the others to come inside. The apartment was clean, nothing obviously out of place. There were books everywhere, but they looked just as neat as the rest of the apartment, stacked in small and manageable piles on tables and counters. 

The living room was huge, with a small kitchen in the corner that looked out on everything else. There was a table at one end of the living room and a TV in one corner, but other than that, the room was pretty empty. That only made it seem bigger. 

"There's a hallway across the room from here, you can't see it from the front door." Yachi set her bag down in the corner. "But the bathroom's the first door on the right if you need it."

"Thanks, Yachi-san!" Hinata set his own bag down next to Yachi's and took off his sweatshirt, revealing the same T-shirt he was wearing at practice earlier. "Oi, Tsukishima."

"What?" Kei asked, taking his own jacket off. The shirt he had on underneath wasn't as comfortable as he wanted it to be for something like this, but he had his practice clothes and his hero uniform with him if he needed it.

"Should I change?"

"You probably don't need to, but I don't know, you might want to halfway through."

"Okay!" Hinata looked at the bag Kei was picking up. "Are you?"

"Yeah, it'll be a minute."

Hinata started talking to Yachi again as Kei walked back into the bathroom. Taking his school uniform off, he took his black hero uniform and changed as quickly as he could. He never realized before just how weird he looked with both the uniform and his glasses on, but that couldn't be helped. This was the easiest option.

He opened the door again and walked back into the living room, feeling a little weird knowing that the other two people here were both in school uniforms, but whatever. He didn't really care that much. This was comfortable enough.

"Whoa." Hinata's eyes went wide. "Is that your uniform?"

Kei shrugged. "It's incomplete, but yes."

"That's so cool!" Hinata gasped. "Am I going to get one?"

"They're coming tomorrow or so," Yachi said, putting a pad of paper and a pencil on the kitchen counter. She was probably going to try to get her homework done while they were here. Kei made a mental note to apologize later; she wouldn't get anything done while they were doing... whatever they were doing. “I think yours is orange.”

Hinata looked like he was about to faint, scream, or both, and for once in his life, Kei couldn't exactly blame him.

“Have you experimented with anything yet?” Kei asked. 

Hinata shook his head. “I have no idea what I'm doing.”

“Okay.” Kei wasn't sure where to go from here. He should have just asked Tadashi for help. 

“Do you guys want me to turn on the TV?” Yachi asked. 

“Later.” Kei stared at the blank black screen. “That'll just distract everyone.” In more ways than one.

“Aww, Tsukishima!” Hinata pouted. 

“You're already going to fall on your face more than once, you don't want to do that more than you need to.” Assuming Kei’s own experience was any indication, Hinata would end up on his face at least ten times before getting anywhere.

“Fine.” Hinata gave an overexaggerated sigh. “What are we doing?”

“Basic flight technique.”

“What?!” Hinata’s voice echoed throughout the apartment, louder than it probably should have. “There's technique for that?!” He frowned. “It looks so easy.”

“There's technique for everything.” Kei shrugged. “You can't just do something like that without any experience. People aren't supposed to be able to do it, period, of course it's going to be hard.”

“Yeah...” Hinata trailed off before he looked up at Kei again with a grin. “So what is this ‘technique’?”

“Changing your mentality, mostly.” It had been a long time since Kei needed to change the way he thought about anything in order to pull this off, and his memory of actually having to think about it was fuzzy at best, considering he was twelve at the time. But he at least remembered that much. 

“What do you mean?” Hinata asked. 

“This is probably the cheesiest thing you'll ever hear me say, but if you think you can do it, there's a much greater chance that you'll be able to do it.”

“If that's the cheesiest thing I'll ever hear you say, I'm disappointed.”

“Not the point.” Kei stretched his arms out behind his back. He wasn't about to cramp up now. “Anyway, most of it is about getting over the idea that you shouldn't be able to do it, because as of Friday, you can, like it or not.”

“Got it.” Hinata nodded.

Kei looked out at the apartment and frowned, both pleased and frustrated by the lack of furniture. On one hand, there was less stuff to run into when things went wrong, but on the other, there wasn't a lot to work with. 

“Yachi-san, can I borrow a chair?” Kei asked.

“What kind of chair?” Yachi looked up from her homework. “There's stools in here and there's a desk chair in my room if you want to use that instead. Sorry we don't have a lot -”

“The stool’s fine, thanks.” 

“You're welcome.” Yachi smiled before she stood up and brought the stool next to her into the living room. “Be careful, whatever you're doing.”

“We will.” Kei set the stool down in the middle of the room. 

“What's that for?” Hinata asked.

“Springboard.”

“What?” 

“You're going to be jumping off that thing hopefully until something happens,” Kei said. “You'll probably hurt yourself.”

“Then why am I doing it?”

“Because it’s the only way to get it to work.” Kei smirked. “Eventually you'll realize the pain isn't that bad, or you'll avoid it. It works either way.”

Hinata narrowed his eyes. “...How many times am I going to fall on my face?”

“At least ten, probably more like twenty.”

“Tsukishima!”

“I remember landing on my face thirty-three times before getting the hang of it, twenty is nothing.” Kei let out a breath. “Tadashi was a dick and didn't actually tell me what to do until I’d already gotten a rug burn on my face from his carpet.”

“When did you start calling him Tadashi?” Hinata tilted his head to the side in confusion.

Kei blinked, taking longer than he should have to realize where he went wrong. “Fuck!”

Yachi giggled. Hinata joined in. Kei kind of wanted to die. Just a little.

“Whatever. Forget it.” Kei scowled. “Enough bullshit, we’re starting this right now.”

“Okay!” Hinata was still laughing a little as he climbed up onto the stool. “Am I supposed to stand on top of it?”

“Yes.”

“Are you sure this is safe?”

“Nothing about this is safe.” 

Hinata got up to his feet and wobbled a little bit before he regained his balance. The stool was surprisingly steady, but that may have just been because of how light Hinata was. “Do I just jump off?”

“No, you have to think about it.” Kei sat down on the floor and leaned back against the wall. “Try to make yourself stay up in the air for a second, it isn't that hard.”

“If you say so.” Hinata took a step forward and leaped off the edge of the stool, gaining height but not retaining it. He didn't fall any slower than usual and hit the ground with a loud “oof!”, landing right on his face.

Just as expected for the first try.

“That didn't work,” Hinata grumbled. “Are you sure that's what you're supposed to do?”

“It’s slightly more complicated than that.”

“And you didn't tell me because you wanted to see me fall on my face?” Hinata asked.

“Nothing like a little Schadenfreude.” Kei shrugged. 

Hinata looked like he was going to say something before he stopped, looking dejected as he got back up onto the stool again. “Then what am I supposed to do?”

“It’s all about how you think about it.” Kei crossed his arms. “I don't know for sure if this'll work on you, but it worked on me so I'm going to try it.” He let out a breath and looked up -  _ up _ , that's what he got for sitting on the floor - at Hinata. “Close your eyes.”

“Not while I'm up here -”

“Do it.”

Hinata reluctantly obeyed, squeezing his eyes shut as his arms shot out to the side to keep him balanced. The stool was starting to wobble. “This feels dangerous.”

“Listen to me for two seconds.” Kei looked at the stool and wondered if Hinata was going to fall before he finished. That wouldn't be good. “Imagine that you’re weightless. Picture it in your head and focus on it. Think of yourself stepping off the edge of that stool and floating there.”

“Okay...” Hinata sounded distant, clearly thinking hard. “What do I do now?”

“Try doing it.”

“Should I open my eyes or...?”

“Doesn't matter.”

“Okay.” Hinata opened his eyes and took a step off the edge, letting his foot hang over before he pushed off into the air with his other foot. For a second, he was floating, and that second gave him more than enough time to bend his knees before he fell again. He landed in a squat, cheeks red.

“It worked!” Hinata whipped his head around with a grin. “Yachi-san, did you see that?”

Yachi nodded. “It was pretty impressive.”

It really wasn't.

“I did it, right?” Hinata turned around to face Kei again. “So am I done?”

“You don't need the stool anymore, but no.” Kei shook his head. “Now that you know what it feels like, you should try to get up on your own and get more air time. Long-distance flight will kick your ass if you can't keep it up.”

“Can I turn on the TV now?”

Kei looked over at the screen. “If you can multitask.”

Hinata ran over to the dresser the TV was sitting on and grabbed the remote, pointing it at the TV and pressing the power button. He scrolled through channels until he found a report on the job Tadashi and Kageyama were on. 

Things were going fine. Tadashi was doing all the work, but it didn't look like it was tiring him out at all. Between interviews and reports on the scene, there were quite a few close up shots of his face. He was smiling. Kei didn't know where Kageyama was, but he assumed that he wasn't too far away.

He took the stool back where it was next to Yachi and sat down, watching the screen with a frown.

“Jealous you're not out there with them?” Yachi asked.

“Not really.”

“Really?” 

“Yeah.” Kei sighed, putting his head down on the counter. “I need a break.”

“Why would you ever want a break from  _ this _ ?” Hinata hopped up into the air again, staying afloat for a good three seconds before touching down again. 

“You have no idea.” Kei kept his eyes on the TV, worried that something could go wrong when he was all the way over here. “Where are they?”

“Sort of by where Shiratorizawa is,” Yachi answered.

“How far is that from here?”

“I'm not sure, probably half an hour or so.”

“Hey, Tsukishima, they're talking about you!” Hinata kept his eyes on the screen.

“Of course they are,” Kei murmured. 

“Just like last week, Aka-kun’s nowhere to be found,” one of the reporters was saying. “From the looks of it, he's not even here right now, interesting in the face of all the criticism he's received recently.” She let out a breath and looked into the camera. “As many of us expected, history repeats itself and the snowball effect continues, only leaving us to wonder why he's been going downhill so fast over the past few weeks.”

“But he  _ was _ there last week,” Hinata whispered. 

“Shut up, Hinata.” Out of all the things Kei expected Hinata to do at that moment, defending him definitely wasn't one of them.

“But you were!”

“That doesn't matter.”

“They're treating you like crap!”

“I said it doesn't matter.” Kei looked away from the screen, staring out the window instead. The sky was dark and grey, only getting more dreary as the sun started to set and it started drizzling. 

Hinata turned around and looked at Kei with wide eyes. “You're just going to let them say stuff that isn't true?” 

“It doesn't bother me.” It did bother him. A lot.

Hinata looked at him for a second before he turned around again. “You're really weird, Tsukishima.”

“Yeah, I know.” Why was Kei so tired all of a sudden? Maybe it was just not wanting to deal with this.

“Oh, the job’s over.” Hinata interrupted Kei’s pity party - he felt especially pathetic calling it that, but that's what it was - and Kei looked back at the screen again. Sure enough, police cars were pulling up, and Tadashi wasn't in the frame anymore. He and Kageyama would probably be here soon enough.

“Hey, Tsukishima-kun?” Yachi asked.

“Yeah?”

“The lady on TV was saying something about a snowball effect.” Yachi frowned. “What does that mean?”

“People think I'm getting progressively worse at this since I'm being consistently overshadowed by Tadashi now.” Kei shrugged. “It isn't a big deal.”

“It sounds like a big deal,” Yachi said. “Hinata-kun’s right, none of what they're saying is true.”

“It’s fine, I've never cared about this kind of thing.” At least, he didn't until now. What was wrong with him?

“All right.” Yachi stood up, pushing her stool in behind her. “I should probably make something for Yamaguchi-kun and Kageyama-kun when they get back, they'll be hungry.”

“Need any help?” Hinata asked.

“Nope, I don't actually need to cook anything.” Yachi walked over to the fridge, opened it, and pulled out a veggie tray, dramatically setting it down on the counter next to where the cake was already sitting. “I have chips, too. That'll be enough, right?”

“Yeah, it'll be fine.” Kei finally sat up again. “This one wasn't as bad as most of them.”

“Okay.” Yachi nodded, opening a cupboard, presumably to find the chips.

“I'm going to change,” Kei said, looking down at the uniform he was still wearing. “It’s not like I have a good reason to keep this thing on.”

“Wait.” Hinata looked at him with a mischievous grin. “You never showed me what  _ you _ can do.” 

Kei blinked. “I don't really need to.”

“Come on!”

“Even if I wanted to do something, I don’t have a lot of options.”

“Just do something small, pleeease?” Hinata was practically begging now. 

“Fine.” Kei rolled his eyes and started to rise up into the air, barely hovering above the ground at all. It was more than enough to please Hinata, though, who was staring at him with wide eyes and a slack jaw. “I could do this all day.” 

“Really?” Hinata asked.

“It’s not hard once you get used to it.” Kei dropped down to the ground again, grabbing his bag before walking into the bathroom. 

When he slipped his school uniform on again, he decided that for the time being, he liked looking normal a lot better.

He spent the next twenty or so minutes trying to get some studying done and ultimately failing. He helped Yachi set out the chips, put candles on the cake and reluctantly answered Hinata’s stupid questions while writing “Happy Birthday, Yamaguchi” on the cake in green frosting before hiding it behind some fruit on the counter. It was a little boring, sure, but at a time like this, he needed a little boring to balance out the rest of his life. 

There was a knock at the door, and when Yachi went to answer it, all three of them knew exactly who it was.

“Happy birthday!” Yachi hugged Tadashi tight before he could even get all the way inside.

“Thanks, Yachi-san!” Tadashi laughed, hugging her back.

“How was it?” Hinata asked. “Was it fun?”

“Debatable.” Tadashi shrugged. “I wish Kageyama had gotten a better first impression.”

“The first impression I got was more than good enough.” Kageyama followed Tadashi in, looking more than a little dazed. 

“Well, you have to start somewhere!” Tadashi grinned, his gaze shifting over to Kei. “Did you miss me?”

“Not really.”

“And on my birthday, too? You wound me, Tsukki!”

“I try.” Kei smirked. “Welcome to the sixteen club.”

Tadashi laughed. “Thanks.”

“Tsukishima-kun!” Yachi whispered, beckoning Kei to come behind the counter. “Can you bring out the cake?”

“I guess...?”

“Great, thanks!” Yachi grinned, sneaking out from behind the counter and down the hallway before Kei could ask her anything else. He figured he’d just wait for her to come back before actually bringing the cake out again.

The TV was still on, turned to the same channel as before. A reporter was talking about the weather forecast for the next week: rain, rain, and more rain. Even so, he still sounded happy about it, joking with another reporter about how he was going to become a hermit for the week. 

Everyone was happy, it seemed. Of course they were, it was Tadashi’s birthday, but the room just seemed to ooze cheerfulness. It was clear in the enthusiasm in everyone’s voices, the way the walls were just a little bit brighter.

“In local news, the Miyagi Duo was called in to deal with an incident near Shiratorizawa Academy about an hour ago,” the second reporter started as soon as the weather report was over. “As it currently stands, the events that transpired were very minor compared to some of the Duo’s other recent excursions. No one was injured, and no property was damaged.”

“Yamaguchi kind of broke a girl’s phone,” Kageyama muttered.

“Hey, I had nothing to do with that!” Tadashi shot back.

“However, this is only the latest in a series of rather telling events concerning the fate of-”

“Can someone turn that off?” Tadashi looked at Kei out of the corner of his eye, rushing through the question without spacing out the words. 

He definitely knew. There was no way around it. But if he did, then why didn't he -

“I've got it!” Hinata grabbed the remote off the counter and turned off the TV, leaving a weird silence hanging over everyone. 

“When did it get so quiet in here?” Yachi walked back into the living room, carrying something behind her back. She wasn't as subtle about it as she could have been, but Tadashi didn't seem to notice what was obviously a birthday present.

“I don't know.” Hinata shrugged. “I just turned off the TV.”

“Oh.” Yachi frowned for a second before it faded into a smile just as quickly. “Tsukishima-kun? Would you do the honors?”

Kei nodded, grabbing the cake off the counter. Yachi started singing, Hinata and Kageyama joined in - one more enthusiastically than the other - and once Tadashi realized what was happening,  he started laughing, cheeks turning red from the embarrassment of being sung to for the second time that day. He took the cake out of Kei’s hands and blew out all the candles in one blow - the cake wasn't big enough for sixteen, but there were six of them around the edge - and Kei was sure that he made a dumb but sweet birthday wish right before he took the breath.

“What kind of cake is this?” Tadashi asked, waving off the smoke.

“Vanilla with strawberry frosting.” Yachi walked back behind the counter, probably to grab a knife to cut the cake with. “It was the only one I found that was the right size.”

“Oh!” Tadashi’s eyes lit up as he set the cake down on the counter. “Thanks for getting it!”

“You're welcome!”

What came next was a completely normal birthday party, like what Tadashi was doing beforehand didn't actually happen. Yachi cut the cake, everyone got a slice, and the conversation was constantly interrupted by chewing and swallowing. 

If this was a cartoon, Kei would have a dark grey raincloud looming ominously above his head. 

He wanted to be happy, he really did. Especially on a day like today, he wanted to keep his head up for Tadashi’s sake, because everything was going so well for him. Every article Kei had read over the past few weeks had nothing but praise for him, and he deserved it. He was powerful, he was helpful, he radiated goodness wherever he went. Kei suspected that he wasn't the only one hopelessly in love with him. 

But at the same time, everything good seemed to be happening at Kei’s expense, and on his end, things just couldn't stop getting worse. He didn't even have to look to know that people were tearing him apart for not being there today, and even when he showed up with Hinata next time and left Tadashi behind, he wasn't sure that all would be forgiven. He didn't know if he could do anything to change the way things were going, or if he could change anyone's mind, least of all his own.

And from the looks of it, Tadashi knew. He had probably known since the beginning, so shouldn't he have at least talked about it by now? That's what Kei was expecting him to do, at least. Maybe they were the same, just avoiding the issue and going on like nothing was wrong. How long could they keep that up until -

“Are you okay?”

“Huh?” Kei looked up to see Tadashi frowning at him. Had he spaced out? Shit. “I'm fine.”

“You don't look like it, “ Tadashi said.

“I’m just thinking, it’s nothing. “

He could have said something earlier. He didn't have to explain whatever he was feeling, he just had to ask Tadashi to give him something to do that would get him noticed. Tadashi would have done it. But even that felt wrong. 

When it came to this, nothing felt right. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (do you ever regret because that's me @this plot)
> 
> (oh well next chapter is one of the best ones)
> 
> tumblr: [violist-yamaguchi](http://violist-yamaguchi.tumblr.com)/[hanwritesstuff](http://hanwritesstuff.tumblr.com)


	5. Chapter 5

An abandoned aquarium wasn’t supposed to be creepy. An abandoned  _ anything _ was a little eerie, sure, but an aquarium was supposed to be nothing. At least, compared to a train station. Or a mansion. Or a graveyard. 

Clearly, every assumption Kei had about being in an abandoned aquarium was wrong. 

The lights were too bright, shining down unnaturally in weird spotlights. The tanks were all empty, some of them still filled with water. He wondered how long it had been since the place had been open.

No matter how long it had been, this was a weird place for an evil lair.

“Do you have any idea what’s going on?” Kei asked, keeping his voice low. He wasn’t sure why.

“Nope.” Tadashi shook his head. “Keep your eyes open, just in case.” He turned around, facing behind him with a grin. “That  _ especially _ goes for you two. Don’t get yourselves killed on your first day.”

“Roger!” Hinata put his hand to his forehead in a mock salute. Kageyama just nodded in agreement, but it was obvious that he was at least slightly nervous. Not as nervous as Hinata, but up there.

“Oh, god, they've multiplied.”

A woman stood in the middle of the hallway they'd just walked into, flanked by an emotionless man in a suit and sunglasses on each side. She held a wine glass in one hand and wore a light blue dress far too fancy for the setting. It wasn't even practical, it would get caught on something.

“It’s like the Mickey Mouse Club all of a sudden.” The woman scowled. “How many more of you are there?”

“Just the four of us.” Kei smirked. “You don't even have to worry about the two in the back, they're harmless.”

Hinata gasped. “Hey! Ts-”

“Don't finish that, thanks.” Kei wasn't afraid to let his personality shine through. As far as he knew, there weren't any cameras here, and keeping up the front of being friendly and caring on the job was exhausting. This was strangely relaxing.

“My my, Aka-kun, I didn't know you had that in you!” The woman chuckled. “It makes one wonder what side you're really on.”

Kei’s eyes went wide for a second before he quickly regained his composure. That was weird.

“Whatever,” He muttered.

And was instantly interrupted by his own ringtone.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Kei cursed, pulling his phone out of his pocket. Akiteru’s name lit up the screen. Who else could it be? “I have to take this.”

“Really?” The woman asked. “ _ Now _ ?”

Kei shrugged, hitting the green phone icon and putting the phone up to his ear. “What.”

Akiteru paused for a second before he started talking, his voice quiet. “Am I interrupting something?”

“Yes, what do you want?”

“Oh!” Akiteru chuckled. “Well, I'm going home for the weekend since it’s Mom’s birthday on Sunday, and -”

“Get to the point.” Kei could feel everyone’s eyes on him. This was awkward.

“Since you're obviously in the city, I was wondering if you wanted a ride home.”

Kei blinked. That was a pleasant surprise. “Can you fit four of us in your car?”

“Yeah, if you squish.”

Kei looked over at Hinata for a second, who gave him a confused look in return. “Squishing won't be necessary.”

“Okay,” Akiteru said. “Let me know when you're ready and I'll pick you up.”

Forget awkward, this was straight-up humiliating. “...Thanks.”

“Anytime.” Akiteru let out a breath. “Well, I guess I'll leave you to it.”

“Yeah, that would be great, bye.” Kei hung up and stuffed the phone back in his pocket in complete silence.

“Aww, you little teenage superheroes can't even drive yet!” The woman cooed. 

“I know, it’s painful.” Kei made sure his voice dripped with sarcasm, just the way he liked it. “But the fact of the matter still stands that I can do a perfectly good job at this without a driver’s license.”

Hinata and Kageyama were both trying their hardest not to start laughing. Kei realized far too late that a line like that was pristine blackmail material.

Everyone shut up with one wave of Tadashi’s hand. “What is this place?”

“Like I would tell you that.” The woman rolled her eyes. “No one’s supposed to know that this place exists, which unfortunately means that you all will have to be dealt with.”

Read: killed. Or maybe she wanted to wipe their memories. Who knew what kind of resources she had?

She snapped her fingers and the hallway was instantly swarmed from both ends with men in suits, looking like clones of one another. Their faces couldn't be read; it was like they weren't even human. Nothing seemed quite right.

“How many of them are there?” Hinata asked. He was starting to panic already, that wouldn't help anyone.

“I don't know,” Tadashi replied with a frown. “Maybe twenty.”

“Do we have a plan or do we just knock them all out?” Kei asked. 

“Both, try to get them out of the way but keep moving out of this hallway.” Kei could practically hear the gears turning in Tadashi’s head as he talked, his eyes sweeping the scene. He was probably making this up on the spot. “There's water tanks everywhere, we'd be able to use Kageyama that way.”

“Got it.” Kei nodded. “And in the meantime let me do the work?” That wasn't subtle at all.

Tadashi gave him a look for a second before he grinned. “If you say so, Tsukki.”

“Why are we using our names all of a sudden?” Hinata asked, backing away from two guys coming for him. 

Tadashi shrugged. “Once TV people get here, we’ll start using codenames, but until then, this is fine.”

“Okay.” Hinata nodded, still backing down toward the end of the hallway. Was that part of the plan, or was he just being scared? Would the world ever know? “What do I do?”

“Hit them, dumbass!” Kageyama shouted, punching one of the guys in the nose. Damn, what had Tadashi’s training regimen been like if he was already pulling stuff like that?

“Okay, fine, don't yell at me!” Hinata jumped up into the air and hovered there just long enough to deliver a roundhouse kick to the guys’ guts before dropping back down again, wobbling for a second before he regained his balance. 

They were a lot closer to the end of the hallway now, whatever Hinata’s intentions had been. Kei could see two small tanks in the room at the end, both at least halfway full of water. Kageyama could probably do something with those.

After shocking another one of the men into unconsciousness, Kei stopped for a second to watch Tadashi’s powers in action. Tadashi closed his eyes and raised his hands up in front of him, letting out a breath as his hair started to float. Barely a moment later, three of the men were hovering in the air, completely helpless, and stayed there for a second or two before ramming into each other, falling to the ground in a daze.

Tadashi grinned and shook his hands out before running off to his next target just as Kei effectively shocked the guy trying to jump him from behind. He was lovesick, sure, but he was only lovesick enough to be distracted under certain circumstances, this not being one of them.

“These guys don't know how superpowered combat actually works, do they?” Kei asked, bringing two more down. There were only a few left now. This seemed like it had taken shorter than it should have, but he’d gladly take what he could get.

“Yeah, really.” Tadashi laughed, knocking another one out with just a press of his finger to his forehead. “This isn't that bad!”

“Say the people with more than a week of experience!” Hinata butted in, grunting as he shoved one of the guys into another like a domino.

“You're doing fine, Hinata, don't worry!” Tadashi shouted. 

They reached the end of the hallway and found themselves with a wide open room, filled with no less than four water tanks and about twenty more of the same guys in suits they'd been fighting for the past few minutes. Kageyama would have a field day with it. At least, as much of a field day as he could have with severely underdeveloped superpowers. 

A pair of doors slammed shut behind them, keeping them trapped in here for the time being. That was fine.

“Guys?” Hinata sounded even more scared than before, scared enough for Kei to wonder if something was actually wrong.

“Yeah?” Tadashi asked, facing the four men coming at him. Kei did the same.

“Where's Kageyama?”

“What?” Kei turned around slowly, keeping the men in his sights as long as he could. Sure enough, Kageyama wasn't behind him.

“That isn't good.” Tadashi's skin was getting paler by the second. He was probably starting to freak out, too, which was even worse than Kageyama going missing.

“Don't panic.” Kei frowned, trying to think of what could have happened. Nothing. The situation was just too unfamiliar for him to come up with anything logical. “He's probably fine.”

“How can you be so sure?” Hinata asked. 

“I don't know.” Kei turned around and knocked down two of the men about to rush at him from behind. “It’s just a theory.”

“You have no idea.” 

A giant TV screen on the wall flared to life, showing the woman in front of a pane of glass, still smirking. Kei had no idea where she was; it could be anywhere in the building, assuming she hadn't gotten out while they'd been busy. That would be worse.

“Your little friend was taken from right under your noses and you didn't even notice!” The woman laughed. “You're all more dense than I thought you were!”

“Shut the hell up, where is he?” Hinata demanded, glaring at the screen.

“Right behind me, obviously.” The woman stepped out of the shot, letting the camera focus fully on the panel of glass and what was waiting behind it.

Kageyama was sitting in a huge tank, pissed off but most likely uninjured. His arms were bound to his sides with a thick rope wrapped around him maybe five times, his knees tied together the same way. There was something tied to his ankle, too, probably a weight to keep him down. His mouth was moving, but Kei couldn't hear anything he was saying. 

The tank was steadily filling up with water, up to Kageyama’s stomach. It looked slow now, but it would fill up fast, leaving Kageyama completely submerged in a few minutes from the looks of it. Sure, he’d float up a little ways, but that was only until the weight kept him locked in place. 

“He can breathe underwater, right?” Hinata asked. “Isn't that something he can do?” 

“Yeah.” Tadashi nodded. “He’ll be fine.”

But for how long?

Kei started running before he really knew what he was doing. There was a set of double doors on the other side of the room leading into another hallway, and that seemed like the way to go if he wanted to find Kageyama. He predicted that this would be like a video game - every time they got to another room, another twenty goons would swarm them and they'd have to beat them to move on. It would take forever.

Forever was way too long for him to do it the way it was supposed to be done.

“Tsukishima!” Hinata yelled.

“Tsukki, what are you  _ doing _ ?” Tadashi shouted, his voice raw.

Kei didn't have time to give a full answer. He didn't have time for anything right now. He kept running, trying to come up with an explanation for doing this that he couldn't put together.

Everything died down when he got past the next hallway. It was just him, just as he expected. He didn't slow down, but at least he had a chance to breathe. And to think. Especially to think.

Kageyama got his powers less than a month ago. This early, they'd be functional for short periods of time, but extended use would wear him out quickly and he probably wouldn't be able to keep it up. And that was being generous. There was a fairly large chance that they wouldn't work at all. Either way, they'd just fizzle out at one point or another. Every power was like that at the beginning: finicky, unreliable, and dangerous under the wrong circumstances.

And if this wasn't an example of the wrong circumstances, what was? Kageyama was essentially being forced to keep his powers working or die trying, the latter horrifyingly plausible considering how little experience he had with them. Assuming he had tried breathing underwater at all, it was probably in a low-pressure environment, like a pool or a bathtub. And on top of that, it had probably only been for a few seconds. Even if he had the resolve and the focus to do it, he wouldn't be able to keep it up for more than a minute or two, especially when it was a matter of life and death like this.

Damn, Kei was no better than Tadashi and Hinata were. 

He ran into the next hallway only to be faced with four more of the men in suits. He was surprised that there were only four, but there were still four that he had to deal with. It would take too much time.

He hopped up into the air and flew over them, touching down at the other end of the hallway and running into the next room without wasting a second. He couldn't afford to.

He was faced with a split at the end of the next room. The left doorway led to a ramp going down, probably to a basement level, while the right doorway led to another normal looking hallway. Kageyama was in a tank that extended from the floor to the ceiling of wherever the woman had been, which meant that the top of the tank would be higher up. Of course, that was assuming there was an opening Kei could access from the top, but from the view of the tank he’d gotten earlier, that wasn't a worse assumption than anything else.

He took the right doorway, noting how dark it was compared to the left. Was that supposed to be a trap? He hadn't even noticed. 

There weren't any lights on in the hallway, so he had to slow down for fear of tripping over something, which would just waste more time. The tiny spark he emitted from his finger lit up the hallway enough for him to see a small distance in front of him - the same distance he could already see without his glasses on, nothing new - but it was nowhere near enough for him to get reckless. Thankfully, he wasn't ambushed in here. He wouldn't have known what to do if he was.

There was a door at the end of the hallway, and Kei paused for a few seconds before opening it. Was this a trap too? Had he even gone the right way? 

He pushed the door open with a grunt, blinded for a second by the bright lights in the next room. This room was the biggest by far, and he was surprised that there wasn't anyone in here waiting for him. Maybe they'd expected him to take the lower hallway. Did they really think he was that gullible?

There was another door on the other side of the room, leading outside onto a white deck. That looked promising.

The wind rushed through Kei’s hair when he opened the second door, momentarily surprised by the cold. Sure, it wasn't a warm day by any stretch considering it was November, but it hadn't been  _ freezing _ . He scowled, taking a look at his surroundings. This seemed right, but who knew?

The deck didn't extend very far. Two semicircular water tanks extended out from the edge of it until they met with another deck on the other side. This seemed like the center of the aquarium itself; the walls formed a circle around the two tanks, drab and blue-gray. The tanks were both deep, and they were both entirely full, although one looked to be overflowing into the other.

Kei looked into the overflowing tank, and sure enough, there was Kageyama at the bottom. He didn't even seem to notice that Kei was there.

Kei shrugged off his jacket and left it on the deck. His phone was in one pocket and his glasses were in the other, both things he didn't want it get wet if at all possible. He pulled the mask off his face and dropped it on top of his jacket. That would have interfered with his vision, and considering his eyesight was already shitty, that wouldn't have helped at all. 

“It makes you wonder what side I’m really on, huh?” He whispered to himself.

He took a deep breath before diving in.

Four years of having electricity powers had made Kei realize just how annoying water could be. It was necessary to stay alive, yes, but it was only a nuisance when he was faced with a large amount of it like this. He couldn't use his powers at all underwater unless he had a death wish, which he didn't at the moment. It was common sense but he hated it anyway. 

Out of all the weaknesses to have.  _ Water _ . 

Water, water, everywhere, making Tsukishima Kei absolutely fucking useless.

He could feel his ears start buzzing as he got deeper, trying to keep his eyes open. They would sting for at least a day after this, but he didn't care. It was too cold for him to care about anything other than just getting it done.

Kageyama finally noticed him when they were pretty much eye to eye. He was floating a little bit above the bottom of the tank, but the weight was keeping his ankle tied down. The weight looked like a metal ball, and it looked heavy, but could Kei just pull it up if it wasn't tied down to anything?

Kei went even deeper until his hands touched the bottom. The weight was lying in a small indent at the bottom, but he was right - it wasn't tied down to anything. It was just there, and he could probably do something about that.

But first, he needed to get up to the surface and breathe. 

It was a longer swim up than he'd expected. Probably because he'd only ever taken enough swim lessons as a kid to not drown. He'd never been fast.

He took a long deep breath as soon as his head pierced through the surface of he water. He stayed up for a bit, catching his breath and trying to think of a plan. If Tadashi was here, the weight of the ball wouldn't be a problem - he could lift it up easily. But Tadashi wasn't here, and the ball being too heavy was definitely a possibility. Kei was strong, but not strong enough for something like that.

He swam down to the bottom again, receiving an impatient glare from Kageyama when he passed him. Of course he'd be pissed at the person trying to save his goddamn life for taking too long. 

Kei tried lifting the ball once he got to the bottom. Just as he feared, it was too heavy. He couldn't even move it. He had to separate it from Kageyama somehow if he wanted to bring him back up.

He looked up at Kageyama’s ankle, where the chain was attached. It was a metal cuff, something he couldn't just untie like the ropes keeping Kageyama from moving.

Right, those existed.

The rope tied around Kageyama’s knees was easy to pull down, and though it was still in a loop, Kei let it fall down around the chain and hit the bottom near where the ball was. It didn't matter. The rope around Kageyama’s arms was similarly easy to pull off, and once Kei got it off the top of Kageyama’s head, he tossed it to the side, letting it float down to the bottom right next to the other rope. 

Now for the tricky part.

The cuff was in place around Kageyama’s ankle, but he was wearing boots that went up to his knees. If Kageyama could somehow take the boot off, he'd be able to go free. The cuff was a little tight, but it was possible.

Of course, there was no way to tell Kageyama that.

Kei grabbed the toe of the boot and started pulling, hoping that being underwater wouldn't interfere too much. It was hard, but he felt like he was getting somewhere after a few seconds.

Until Kageyama kicked him in the head.

Kei looked up at him with a glare. What the hell did he do that for?

Kageyama gave him a quizzical look and pointed at his foot. He was probably trying to ask what was going on.

Kei pointed at the boot and the cuff and made a pulling motion before pointing at Kageyama and pointing up toward the surface. Hopefully that was enough for him to understand.

Kageyama nodded, trying to wriggle his foot out of the shoe himself. That helped, but it was still a long ways away from being free. He looked fine, but how much time did he have? Kei’s breath was starting to run out, how much time did  _ he  _ have?

Kei tried to ignore the fear building up in his throat and kept pulling. Kageyama’s foot looked like it was starting to wriggle its way out, just as Kei hoped it would. The pulling became a lot easier when Kageyama’s heel got free, but there was still a lot more to do.

Kageyama kicked the back of Kei’s head again. Really? Now? In the middle of everything?

Kei looked up, eyes narrowed, expecting a scowl or something on Kageyama’s end, but that was definitely not what he got.

Kageyama’s eyes were wide as he pointed to his chest before making a cut-off motion. He looked terrified.

His powers had just cut out, of course he was. 

Time was running out, and Kei wasn't sure how long he could keep this up. He was beginning to feel lightheaded. It finally sunk in that he could die here.

Or he could just leave Kageyama behind and get up to the surface.

No. He was so close, he couldn't back out now.

He kept pulling, feeling that this was the end. Kageyama was looking down in anticipation, and the boot felt so light. It was almost over.

Kageyama’s foot came free with a pop, the boot still locked in the cuff as he started swimming up to the surface as fast as he could. Kei stayed to try and get the boot out, which was easy thanks to its soft material, and quickly followed, hoping he could make it in time. He was cutting it close, closer than he logically would.

He heard muffled voices from up above the surface just as two pairs of hands reached into the water. Just as Kageyama reached for the pair on the right, Kei reached up for the pair on the left, his energy dying out just as he grabbed on. He let the pair of hands pull him up the rest of the way - he couldn't do anything else on his own.

“You're okay, you're safe, just breathe, keep breathing, you're okay.” Tadashi repeated the same thing over and over again without spacing the words out, holding Kei close as soon as he pulled him out. It felt like he wouldn't ever let go.

“Kageyama, you idiot!” Hinata shoved Kageyama in the chest before pulling him into a hug. He sounded like he was about to cry. “You could have died!”

Kageyama didn't say anything. He stared straight ahead like he was in a trance, his breaths long and deep.

“Are you guys okay?” Tadashi asked. 

Kei nodded. He was about to say something, but when he opened his mouth, he started coughing and abandoned it entirely.

“Okay...” Tadashi started running his fingers through Kei’s hair. It was nice. “We finished everything up, by the way.”

“Tell me about it later,” Kei whispered. He doubted he could achieve much more volume than that if he tried. “I'll call my brother, he -”

“I already did,” Tadashi said. “He said he saw some of it on TV and he's bringing towels. Are you cold?”

“You think?”

Tadashi laughed. “I thought so.” 

“Guys, Kageyama hasn't said anything this entire time, is he okay?” Hinata asked.

“I'm  _ fine _ , idiot.” Every word Kageyama said was interrupted by another breath. Air was such a luxury. 

“You're clearly not!”

“Don't start crying on me.”

At least they were arguing just like usual.

“What were you thinking?” Tadashi whispered. He didn't look that far from tears himself.

“What?” Kei whispered back.

“You just ran off and almost drowned, I was worried about you!” Tadashi just hugged Kei tighter. “I would have gone in your place if you told me what you were doing.”

“I don't know.” Kei sighed. “I didn't really think about it.”

“That's new.”

“Yeah, I know.” Kei frowned. “I don't like it. “

Tadashi giggled.  “Well, like it or not, Kageyama’s alive because of you, valiant hero.”

Kei stiffened. “Don't call me that.”

“It’s only the truth!”

Kei frowned, sitting up again. “Is Nii-chan here yet?”

“I’ll check.” Tadashi pulled his phone out of his pocket, eyes lighting up as he looked at the screen. “He just got here, he's waiting a few blocks away.” He smiled. “Think you can walk that far?”

“Probably.” Kei shrugged. No matter what happened, he had a forty-five-minute car ride to sleep this whole thing off.

“Okay, good.” Tadashi grabbed something from behind him and put it in Kei’s hands before he stood up. “I think this is yours.”

Kei looked at the jacket for a second before putting it on. It was still dry. “Thanks.” He stood up himself, thankful that he could at least do that on his own. He still felt weak as hell overall, but he was getting better.

Hinata stood up next, pulling Kageyama up to his feet before slinging an arm around his shoulder. He was obviously too short to do it, but that just made it funny. Which was good. Humor was something very lacking right now.

They walked back through the circle of hallways in complete silence. Kei didn’t know if it was because no one wanted to say anything or because everyone was too tired to, but either way, it was quiet. Everyone’s footsteps echoed as the lights shone down on them just as bright as ever.

“Oi, Tsukishima.” 

Kei turned around to see Kageyama looking at him, eyes narrowed. What the hell did he want? “What.”

“I have no idea why you did that, but...” Kageyama let out a breath. “Thanks.”

Kei stared at him for a second. “...You’re welcome.”

When they walked out onto the street again, it was raining. Not exactly great after almost drowning, but Kei would definitely be asleep in his brother’s car before too long. That was enough to make him walk just a little faster than he would have otherwise.

“You three are sitting in the back,” Kei said once he could see Akiteru’s car. 

“Aw, come on!” Hinata whined.

“You’re sitting in the middle,” Kageyama muttered.

“Kageyama!” 

“You’re tiny, it makes sense.”

“That’s what I said.” Kei tried opening the passenger side door before seeing it was locked. After knocking on the window no less than five times, Akiteru finally saw him and unlocked the car. 

Kei melted into the seat as soon as he got in.

“Wow.” Akiteru looked at him in shock for a good few second. “You're  _ soaked _ .”

“You're saying that like I don't already know.” Kei rolled his eyes as everyone else got into the back seats.

“So how was it?” Akiteru started the car, looking at everyone else in the rearview mirror. 

“...Chaotic,” Tadashi said. That was really the only word to describe it.

“Fun chaotic or stressful chaotic?” Akiteru asked. “Or... both?”

“I’m wet and freezing and I want to sleep for the next century.” Kei was borderline whining. He was fine with that. A moment like this deserved it.   
“Stop being so dramatic.” Akiteru laughed, punching Kei in the shoulder right before he started driving. 

“Hey, Tsukishima!” Hinata cut in.

“What?”

“Did you know that Yamaguchi has freaky mind control powers?” Hinata asked. “Because I didn't, and -”

“Wait.” Kei turned around to look at Tadashi. “You used them?”

“Yeah.” Tadashi nodded. “It seemed like a good time to do it so I did.”

“And it worked?”

“Mmhm.”

“And nothing happened.”

“Nothing happened.” Tadashi grinned. “I've never done it before.”

“Yeah, I know.” 

“It was so cool, you guys should have seen it!” Hinata gushed. 

“I  _ did _ see it,” Akiteru chimed in. “That was impressive, Tadashi!”

“Thanks!”

“Anyway!” Hinata waited for everyone to stop talking before he continued. “So he punched one of the guys in the face, right? And his sunglasses flew off and there wasn't anything weird with his eyes or anything, he was just wearing the sunglasses to look cool. But then Yamaguchi started staring at him, and his eyes started glowing and he told the guy to take care of everyone else for him or something like that and his voice got really weird and echoey. But the guy just started knocking everyone down and everyone was so focused on him that they didn't notice Yamaguchi and I, it was  _ so cool _ !”

Kei was surprised that Tadashi had actually punched someone in the face, more than he was about the whole mind control thing. The latter would have happened eventually.

Hinata started rambling on about something else. Kei didn't feel inclined to listen.

“Did you tell Tadashi yet?” Akiteru asked, his voice barely a whisper that only Kei could hear.

“What? No,” Kei whispered back, hating that he knew exactly what Akiteru was talking about. “Why would I tell him?”

“Have you seen what people are saying yet?”

“I just got out, of course not.”

“Oh, boy.” Akiteru let out a low whistle. “They're tearing you apart.”

Kei paused. “...How?”

“The cameras didn't see you.” Akiteru frowned. “So as far as everyone’s concerned, you weren't there.”

“What?” Kei’s eyes went wide. “But I was there, I-”

“I know.” Akiteru chuckled. “But I'm just letting you know that for everyone else, this is just business as usual. You didn't show up.”

Kei frowned. “I'm going to sleep.”

“Kei,  _ wait _ .”

“What?” Kei hissed.

Akiteru let out a breath. “Tadashi told me what you did. I called you and he picked up and obviously I was weirded out that you didn't answer, so he explained everything. That was...” He smiled. “That was really gutsy, I didn't know you had it in you.”

Kei shrugged. “I just did what I had to do, it’s nothing -”

“It’s not!” Akiteru grinned. “Well, what I'm trying to say is that you're a lot more than meets the eye. There's going to be a moment when you'll surprise everyone and I don't know when that'll be, but just hold out until then, okay?”

Kei narrowed his eyes before he nodded. “Okay.” He leaned back in the seat and closed his eyes. “Wake me up when we get back.”

When he’d started running down the hallway of the aquarium, he hadn't been thinking about a lot of things, his reputation least of all. And he wasn't supposed to care about it at all. He was the one who kept everyone else grounded, he couldn't worry about stupid things like this. If he went off to do something on his own and no one else saw him, that was their problem, not his.

He'd told Tadashi the same thing. 

He understood everything now. Back in May or whatever, he'd been so confused as to why Tadashi had cared so much. After all, people only saw a tiny portion of what happened; they had no idea what really went on. If they weren't around to see the whole story, that was their problem.

And now, Kei was trying and failing to make himself believe it. What if he'd stayed? If he had, he could have changed everything. He would have been right in the middle of everything, exactly where he needed to be if he ever wanted people to appreciate his existence again. 

But if he'd stayed, Kageyama would be dead. 

Kei knew he did the right thing, but it amounted to absolutely nothing in everyone else’s eyes. No matter what he did, he was never in the right place at the right time. He was always doing something, but it was always something that no one saw.

And he'd tried to put himself out there, he'd really tried to make himself noticed, but something else always ended up coming first. Tadashi was more important, his brother was more important, hell, Hinata and Kageyama were more important. And he didn't want to change that. 

He wanted to ignore the obvious elephant in the room; acknowledging its existence would only make everything worse. But it kept popping into his head over and over again, and he couldn't do anything about it. 

He'd never be able to get anywhere even close to Tadashi’s level. And he wasn't jealous of that, he couldn't be, but it was the only explanation for everything that had been happening. Tadashi was powerful, and he'd only get more so as time went on. He had potential through the roof and it helped that he was literally born for this.

But Kei was... stuck. What he had now was all he'd ever get; he'd never unlock some new skill like Tadashi had. He just had to make do with what he had, and even then, it would undoubtedly cap out at some point.

Which meant that, no matter what he did, this would never end. He'd just spend years trying to reach a standard that was physically impossible for him to reach. He'd never be enough.

And he was happy for Tadashi, he really was. He deserved all of this, and Kei shouldn't have cared what happened since Tadashi was finally growing into this. 

But as much as he hated to admit it, he cared. And that was eating him alive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writers love feedback and hate feeling like they're screaming into the void and not getting anything back, so leave some comments. Please.


	6. Chapter 6

“Tadashi, _slow down_ , you're going to fuck up a turn and crash into a window.”

Sure, Kei was worried about how fast he was flying, but he also just needed to catch up. Was that so wrong?

“We’re literally almost there!” Tadashi shouted, pointing straight ahead. “Look!”

“I can't see.”

“Right.” Tadashi frowned. “Well, trust me, we’re going to make it in like a minute!”

“Good, because I don't know how long I can keep this up!” Kei had pretty much mastered the art of long-distance flight from the number of times he'd had to do it to get to Sendai and back home again over the past nine months, but he'd been at this for twenty minutes now at speeds he could barely do for a couple seconds. He was going to cut out eventually and he didn't want to know what would happen after that. “Tell me why Hinata and Kageyama aren't here again?”

“Well, one, they're our backups!” Tadashi’s voice was muted by the wind rushing past him, and even when he was shouting, Kei could barely hear him. “They aren't supposed to go on everything, they just show up when we can’t.” He took a couple seconds to breathe before he continued. “And they needed a break after last week. That's the only reason you're here.”

“What?!” Was Kei really that unimportant?

“You almost died, remember?” Tadashi faced straight ahead again. “I thought you would have wanted to rest easy after that. Sorry if I was wrong.”

Kei blinked. Of course Tadashi was just looking out for him, he felt bad for thinking otherwise. “It’s okay. I've been through worse.”

“Really?” Tadashi asked. “Because that was pretty bad.”

Kei shrugged. “Let's go, we're just wasting time.” He shot off ahead of Tadashi for the first time all night.

This was a perfect job for him, as far as publicity was concerned. It was a little boring, but that didn't matter. It was just a simple chase - they'd spent the past twenty minutes following a huge monster truck through the city streets - and there was no room or reason for Kei to go off on his own and do anything small that wouldn't be noticed. If he just kept it simple, he'd at least get mediocre reception.

And he'd gladly settle for mediocre.

Even though hopes of anything better than that would be dashed when he took a week off for training camp next week. But for right now, this was as good as it got.

“That thing’s ran over so many cars, I hope everyone’s okay.” Tadashi looked down at the ground. “It looks like the apocalypse just hit.”

“I've seen plenty of ambulances, I think it'll be fine.” Kei had heard enough sirens tonight to make his ears bleed. It wouldn't change that the cars were already totaled, but the people in them would live through it.

Either way, less people would be injured if this whole thing got wrapped up quick.

“How far behind are we?” Kei asked.

“Thirty seconds, more or less,” Tadashi replied. “If we go a little faster, we can bring it down to twenty.”

“I don't know if I can go any faster than this.” Kei frowned.

“Suit yourself!” Tadashi shrugged before shooting out ahead of him.

“Tadashi, wait!” This was not going according to plan. If Tadashi got too far ahead, he'd end up leaving Kei behind, which was fine in pretty much every circumstance except this one. This was going to be the job that changed everything, Kei couldn't waste any time, even fifteen seconds. He had to be right there if he was going to redeem himself tonight.

He hated himself for putting it that way, even though there wasn't really another accurate way of wording it.

He clenched his jaw and went a little faster, hoping that he could hold out a little longer. Speed came at the expense of less time, but if he made it in time and finished everything up quickly, having less time wouldn't matter.

“I thought you said you couldn't go any faster than that!” Tadashi laughed as Kei caught up to him.

“I said I didn't know.” Kei shrugged. “Turns out I could.”

“Well, here we are!” Tadashi pointed down at where the truck was racing down the street, pretty much directly underneath them. “I'm thinking of dropping down on top of it and trying to control it from there. Make sure it doesn't crash into anything and that no one kills me until then.”

“Got it.” Kei nodded, letting himself fall down onto the roof of the truck, landing in a squat. Tadashi followed suit, immediately pressing his hands down on the roof.

It was then that Kei started worrying about something else entirely.

“Have you moved anything this big before?” He asked. If Tadashi overexhausted himself now, Kei wasn't sure he could take over and finish it off. His plan of action would be to take over driving the truck, slam on the brakes, and hope for the best, which was filled with problems. The most notable being that he'd never driven anything and would probably put his foot on the gas instead of the brake and make things even worse.

“No, but I'll be fine.” Tadashi smiled. “Mind control is a lot harder than this.”

“But that's always been on a smaller scale -”

“Doesn't matter.”

Kei narrowed his eyes. “If you say so.”

He turned around only to see two men getting up onto the roof, both wearing biker jackets and carrying guns. He had no idea what this even was about; he never really paid attention to that part. He was more of a get-in-get-out kind of person, he wasn't worried about context.

But whatever it was about, it got a lot more dangerous once guns were involved.

“You've heard what everyone’s been saying, right?” One of them asked the other with a sly smile.

“That the blond one’s been losing his touch?” The other one looked right into Kei’s eyes with a sinister grin. “I've heard -”

“Hey, it would be nice if you could fuck off, thanks!” Tadashi interrupted.

Kei blinked, standing there in disbelief for a second. Tadashi just told someone to fuck off.

There's a first time for everything, but what the hell?

Kei came back to his senses just as one of the two men aimed his gun directly at him. Right before he pulled the trigger,  Kei closed his eyes for a split second, gathering energy from around him to send into a beam that would hit the guy right in the chest if all went well.

Kei opened his eyes in time to see the ray shoot out of his fingertip, knocking the guy off the truck entirely without any kind of resistance. Direct hit. That would get him some PR points.

The other guy was clearly paranoid, probably because he'd been entirely wrong in his assumption. Whatever. It was his fault anyway for believing all the rumors without seeing if they were true. If Kei could use the element of surprise to his advantage, all the better.

The truck reached another intersection, crashing right through the cars that were driving through it. People were screaming, and Kei wondered if he'd been wrong and that everyone _wouldn't_ be fine after this. Fatal injuries weren't an impossibility, especially when so many people were indirectly involved.

He tried to ignore it and focus on getting this done as quickly as possible.

After using a few punches and a little electricity to knock the guy out, Kei turned to Tadashi again. He looked fine, but the truck was still moving, and his forehead was creased in concentration, his eyes closed.

“Are you getting any closer to stopping it?” Kei asked.

“Yeah, it should only be a few more seconds,” Tadashi answered, his voice weirdly distant. “Is there anyone else up here?”

“It don't think so.” Kei frowned. “But I have no idea how many people are inside.”

“That's okay, just deal with them if they show up.” Tadashi opened his eyes again just as the truck started to slow down. “Never mind.”

Kei’s phone rang.

“Again?” He asked himself. If this was Akiteru again, Kei would kill him. He'd been interrupted on two jobs in a row now, and -

His mom’s name and number flashed on the screen. She never called him, she'd always text, and even then she'd never tried to get a hold of him during a job. She always said that the greater good was more important and whatever she had to say could wait.

“Hello?” He cautiously picked up. This was obviously bad if she was calling him now.

“Thanks for picking up, Kei, I know you're busy.” Something sounded wrong with her voice, like she'd been crying. It only set off more alarm bells in the back of Kei’s head.

“Mom? What's wrong?”

“I don't quite know how I should put this, but...” His mom trailed off. “It’s your brother.”

Oh, fuck. “What happened?”

“He got into an accident on his way home from work with all the commotion over there. He's in the hospital now, I'm driving over there to see him.” She sighed. “I don't think he's hurt too badly, but I just thought I should let you know.”

Kei’s heart stopped. “I’ll be there as soon as I-”

“No, no, you should stay.” His mom’s chuckle was dry and humorless. “After all, what would everyone do without you around to protect them?”

 _A whole damn lot_ , Kei thought. “Really, we’re almost done and Tadashi can finish it off for me, I'll meet you there.”

“You really don't need to -”

“I do.” Kei let out a long breath. “Send me the address, I'll be there.”

“You always were pretty stubborn,” his mom said with another, even fainter chuckle. “I love you.”

“I love you too, Mom, bye.”

Kei’s hands were shaking as he put the phone back in his pocket. How could this happen? The whole point of this was to protect everyone, right? So why was someone getting hurt who he actually cared about? It wasn’t fair.

“Um, Tsukki?”

Why the hell did he expect it to be fair in the first place?

“Kei!”

“What?” Kei hissed, instantly regretting it when he turned around and saw the look on Tadashi's face.

“What happened?” Tadashi asked, clearly trying to hide how worried he was.

“I -” Kei paused. There were still things that needed to be done, he couldn't have Tadashi worrying about this, too. “Something came up and I have to leave early. Sorry.”

Tadashi was about to say something before he looked down at the ground again. “Tell me about it later, okay?”

Kei nodded, slowly, like he wasn't entirely sure what he was agreeing to. “I will.”

“Can you at least tell me where you're going?”

“Text me when you're done, I might still be there.”

Tadashi smiled. “Then I'll try to finish up as soon as possible.”

“Good luck.”

“Bye!”

Tadashi was waving as Kei hopped off the truck and landed in a squat on the ground, trying to find somewhere he could run off to. People were looking at him, and he hated it. They had no idea what he was going through, what gave them the right to judge?

He was a hypocrite for thinking that, but he didn't care.

He ducked into an alley and pulled his phone out of his pocket, tapping the address his mom had sent him. The hospital wasn't that far, maybe another six or so minutes of flying. Pretty much nothing on top of the hour and a half or so that Kei had already done tonight.

He wished he had some way to disguise himself even more.

He sucked in a breath and got up into the air again, the sounds dying away as he got farther and farther from the action. He stayed high up and tried to stay close to buildings, hating that he couldn't just be invisible. Eventually, it was just him with a few people down below, and he was surprised at how soothing the quiet was.

He was never cut out for this whole superhero thing.

* * *

“What are you doing here?”

“I go out of my way to see you and that's the thanks I get?” Kei tried to keep his eyes on Akiteru’s face, the only part of him that still looked normal. His arm was bruised up and his leg was held up by wires hanging down from above, not in a cast yet but clearly immobilized. “You look like shit.”

“Thank you so much for your concern.” Akiteru grinned, strained but at least a little real. “I feel like shit.”

“...Are you okay?” Kei asked. “Mom said you -”

“Mom’s exaggerating. You know how she is.” Akiteru pointed to his leg. “This is the only thing that really happened. The bruises are going to fade in a few days and apparently it's a miracle that I didn't get a concussion.”

“Yeah, but that's still _something_.” Kei crossed his arms with a frown.  He could have changed all of this if he'd just been a bit faster. “I'm sorry.”

“It’s fine -”

“This is all my fault -”

“You know, the whole blaming-yourself thing is kind of unattractive.”

“That's none of your business.” Kei glared right at Akiteru, who only laughed in response.

“Really, you had nothing to do with this.” Akiteru smiled. “And if you don't trust me and think you _did_ have a hand in this, you can pay for it by not getting any rides for the next month and a half.”

Kei blinked. Right, a broken leg meant he couldn't drive. And obviously, it was a lot more than no rides. He doubted that Akiteru could do his job very well on crutches, volleyball was out of the question entirely, he’d have to find the money for a new car after this was all over, his entire life was thrown into disarray all because of some stupid truck.

“Let's me ask you something, though.”

“What?” Kei asked.

“Why did you come here?” Akiteru frowned. “You were still in the middle of stuff when Mom called you, it’s probably still going on. So why did you just drop all that?”

Kei shrugged. It wasn't much of a decision. “I guess I just have priorities.”

“Considering you chose me over the well-being of this fair city, those priorities are kind of skewed.”

“Whatever, they haven't killed me yet.” Kei huffed. “I'm sticking with them until there are actual problems.”

“But there are.”

Kei’s eyes flew open wide as he realized what Akiteru was talking about. “ _That_ isn't an actual problem. It doesn't have any effect on my performance, so it isn't important.” He was lying, but lying was the only thing he could do at a time like this.

“That sounded oddly technical even for you.” Akiteru grinned. “Kei, I know how stubborn you are, but you can't just keep going on like this. If things are getting worse every time, you need to make them better.”

“Do you think I know how to do that?” Kei asked. He hated how small his voice sounded.

“Short answer, yes.” Akiteru’s smile softened. “Long answer, I _know_ you know how to do that.”

Before Kei could respond, his phone buzzed in his pocket. He took it out and saw a text from Tadashi, saying that he was done and asking him where they should meet up.

“Is that Tadashi?” Akiteru asked.

“Yeah.” Kei sent Tadashi the hospital’s address and put his phone in his pocket again.

“You still haven't told him, haven't you?”

“No.” Kei looked up at Akiteru again, eyes narrowed. “I _can't._ ”

“Why not?” Akiteru frowned. “You trust him, don't you?”

“Yeah, I just -” Kei sighed. “I just think he'll end up making some sacrifice for me and I don't want him to do that.”

“Well, if I remember correctly, you helped him with the exact same problem a few months ago, which is part of why this is happening to you now.” Akiteru looked up at the ceiling in thought. “He'd do the same thing for you, you know that.”

“Yeah, but I don't want -”

“Tell him. Tonight.” Akiteru looked down again and stared right into Kei’s eyes. “You won't regret it.” He chuckled. “If you wanted to do anything for me after this, it’s that.”

“Okay, fine, he's sleeping over tonight, I'll tell him then.” Kei rolled his eyes. How could his own brother guilt trip him so well? “And he's meeting me here in a few minutes, so I'm going to go.”

He turned around and started walking toward the doorway. He didn't need anything more awkward to happen before he even got home.

“Oh, one more thing.”

“What.” Kei paused in the doorway, turning around to face Akiteru, who was grinning wider than he should have been. Oh no.

“Mom’s staying at my apartment tonight. She's freaking out a little and she doesn't want to risk driving home in the dark if she can help it,” Akiteru said. “If you two need to scream at each other or anything to get all your feelings out, this is the best chance you'll get for a long time.”

“That won't happen.”

Akiteru shrugged. “Only time will tell.”

Kei gave him one last weird look and walked out without saying a word.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who needs good chapter notes when you can sleep also writers love comments


	7. Chapter 7

Kei sat in the waiting room, staring up at the TV in the corner. The only other person here was an old woman, focused on the book she was reading. His mom had gone in to talk to Akiteru again, and he was still waiting for Tadashi to get here. 

“Six people have been injured in incidents related to the superpowered conflict earlier tonight, but no lives have been taken thus far. Traffic is still blocked in some areas, especially where the accidents have taken place, and delays will be expected for the next hour or two.”

The newscaster on TV sounded so bored. This wasn't any different than what usually happened, even though Kei had a lot of trouble believing that.

“Can I change the channel?” He asked the woman on the next couch. She nodded with a smile, and he picked up the remote and put on a game show. It didn't exactly set the right mood, but he didn't really want to hear the news right now. It was quiet enough so that it didn't really matter.

The doors slid open, the only sound in the room that wasn't white noise, and Kei looked up to see Tadashi walk in, completely drenched. His mask was off, and he was carrying his jacket over one arm.

“When did it start raining?” Kei asked. 

“A few minutes ago,” Tadashei wai replied, walking over to stand in front of the couch Kei was sitting on but not sitting down. “Is Akiteru-kun okay?”

Kei nodded. “I mean, he sounded fine when I talked to him.”

“That's good.” Tadashi smiled. “Are  _ you  _ okay?”

“Yeah, thanks.” Kei stood up. “You're still sleeping over, right?”

“If you want me to.”

Kei blinked, everything Akiteru said earlier still ringing in his head. “Of course I want you to.” He started walking toward the doors, eager to just get out.

“Wait, we can just leave?” Tadashi asked, jogging to catch up with him. “I thought your mom was here, isn't she -”

“She's staying over here for the night, she doesn't think she can trust herself to drive that far in the dark after something like this.” Kei gave Tadashi a quick look, particularly his sopping-wet hair. “And now that it’s raining so hard, it’s probably a worse idea.”

“Yeah, I guess that's a good call.” Tadashi’s eyes glinted in the fluorescent light shining down from the ceiling. “So we’ll just be home alone?”

“If you have a problem with it, we can -”

“I don't have a problem with it.” Tadashi rushed his words as the double doors slid open in front of them. They walked through the maze of hallways and escalators to get back down to the main entrance, and only then did Kei realize just how hard it was raining. Everyone outside had an umbrella, and even then, the rain was falling almost sideways and soaked everyone anyway. A forty-five-minute flight home sounded like nothing short of absolute hell.

“Um, do you think you can make it from here?” Tadashi asked, clearly trying to stay inside as long as he could. Their jackets were waterproof, but they didn't have hoods, and they didn't have any other way of protecting themselves from the elements.

“I was planning on doing it anyway, I'll be fine.” Kei put his jacket on, making sure that his glasses were in one pocket and his phone was in the other. They were both there. “The sooner we get back, the better.”

“Right.” Tadashi nodded, putting his own jacket on and zipping it up just as he walked through the double doors into the cold, wet street. Rain slammed to the ground in sheets, and as soon as Kei left the safety of the overhang, he was instantly drenched.

Ugh.

“I guess we don't have another choice,” he muttered, not even waiting for Tadashi before he shot up into the sky. Tadashi could catch up. 

“You're just that eager to get home, huh?” And catch up Tadashi did. Within a few seconds, he was right by Kei’s side, not flying ahead like he had been. Did he know something was up? Was he trying to let Kei know with his body language that the two of them were equal, just like always?

Kei was thinking way too deep into this. After tonight, all the awkwardness would be over.

They went on, keeping their altitude high and their speeds up as the average height of the buildings below them began to get shorter. Before long, they were out of the city entirely, heading along the highway over fields and trees, well on their way back home. Kei could barely see in the dark, and the rain wasn't helping any. Despite how fast he was going, his hair stuck to his scalp, soaking wet just like the rest of his body. As the journey went on, he only got colder.

A bolt of lightning flashed white in the black sky, followed by an eerie boom of thunder. The sky lit up for a second and then went dark again, like it had never happened. Tadashi looked on edge for a while afterward, though - he'd always been a little afraid of thunderstorms, and Kei knew for a fact that if this was a perfect world, he'd already be inside.

“We're not that far.” Kei tried to sound reassuring, ignoring that twenty minutes was a little more than “not that far”. He was exhausted from everything and he knew that when he got back, he'd barely be able to put on some dry clothes before passing out.

“Right, right.” Tadashi nodded. He whispered something to himself, the same thing over and over again. It sounded like “we’re almost there, we’re almost there”.

They'd already be there by now if Kei hadn't been caught up in everything.

Another flash of lightning. Tadashi let out a tiny shriek, and without thinking about it, Kei’s arm shot out to the side and he grabbed Tadashi’s hand. Tadashi squeezed back, tight. He was trying to just keep breathing. 

So naturally, Kei had to do his part and keep him that way.

“Look.” He used his other hand to point out in front of him, where apartment buildings started to appear on the horizon. They weren't nearly as tall as they were in the city, only about three stories or so, but they were familiar nonetheless. “We're almost there.”

Tadashi didn't let go. 

The sky was pitch black when they finally got to their neighborhood, zipping past a silhouetted Karasuno and a grocery store before reaching Kei’s street. They touched down right in front of the house on the corner, knowing for a fact that nobody was home.

Now that the wind wasn't rushing past him, Kei realized how drenched he was. And by extension, how cold. He wouldn't be surprised if he came out of this with mild hypothermia.

His hand shivered as he unlocked the door, dismayed that the house was just as cold as it was outside. None of the lights were on, and he could barely see a thing. He stepped into the entryway, slipping his boots off and setting them down on top of a towel next to the wall. His mom had probably set the towel out on purpose. 

He flicked the light switch on the wall. Nothing happened. He flipped it a few more times in both directions. Nothing. 

“Is the power out?” Tadashi asked.

“I think so.” Kei walked into the house itself, just as neat and tidy as when he’d left. “Hold on, I’m going to get something.”

His mom had a collection of scented candles that she used whenever she had the chance, which wasn't often. But Kei knew they existed, and better yet, he knew where they were and was tall enough to reach the top shelf of the kitchen cupboard where she kept them - she usually asked him to get them for her. He grabbed two of the biggest ones, not bothering to read what they were supposed to smell like. He set them down on the counter before grabbing a box of matches out of a drawer. He lit the larger of the two, glad that he could at least see a little. It smelled like cinnamon.

“Are those your mom’s?”

“Yeah.” Kei lit the other candle, carrying it with him as he walked back toward the entryway. Tree smell. “It’s not much -”

“You're not going to be the practical one and use your powers to turn on the lights?” Tadashi smirked. 

“I’m too lazy for that right now.” And Kei wasn't sure that it would work. He was pretty much tapped from all the flying tonight.

“Fair enough.”

“Come on, I'm getting clothes that aren't soaked through if you want them.” Kei turned around and started walking down the hallway, turning at the second door on the left to get into his room. The bottom drawer of his dresser was open, revealing not one but three pairs of sweatpants, one more than he needed. After grabbing a pair, he opened the next drawer up and, after looking through the many t-shirts he owned, selected a simple blue one, dropping the pile of clothes into Tadashi’s hands as soon as he entered the room. 

“Oh!” Tadashi’s eyes widened as he looked down at the stack before he smiled. “Thanks -”

“Don't mention it.” Kei turned around and went back into the dresser to find something for himself. “Go change, I don't want anyone dripping on the floor for longer than necessary.”

“Got it.” Tadashi’s laugh sounded forced, but he walked out of the room anyway.

Kei wondered if the stress was getting to him and he was just being an asshole. He didn't want that. He just had to get this done.

After getting another pair of sweatpants and another t-shirt, he put down a towel on the ground. He took his glasses out of his jacket pocket first and slipped them on, hating how fogged up they were but thankful they were there in the first place. After that, he took his phone out of the other pocket and, after checking to see that it worked - which it did - tossed it onto the bed. Then came trying to peel his uniform off. It stuck to him more than his hair did, and he had to roll it down to get it off. As soon as Tadashi got out of the bathroom, he'd hang it up somewhere in there to dry.

He felt a lot better in dry clothes. He was still cold as hell but he'd be asleep anyway in a few minutes. He was actually planning on invading Akiteru’s bedroom and stealing all of the blankets off his bed to maximize warmth.

But he did have to talk to Tadashi first. Maybe he wouldn't be asleep as quickly as he thought he would be.

When he opened his closet, the first jacket he saw was the hoodie from his old uniform. He didn't know why it was right there where he could see it, he hadn't worn it in months, but there it was. He didn't care how dirty it could have been, he just wanted to be warm.

And he wasn't warm, not really, but it was better than nothing.

“Your clothes are big.”

Tadashi was standing in the hallway when Kei turned around, like he was afraid to come in. The sweatpants he was wearing were, in fact, way too long for him, and the t-shirt hung down to the middle of his thighs. 

“I think I got that shirt big on purpose.”

“That makes sense.” 

“Want a jacket?”

Tadashi grinned before walking in, in the general direction of Kei’s closet. “I thought you'd never ask.”

“Take whatever, I don't care.” 

“Thank you!” Tadashi dug around for a little bit before pulling out a red hoodie that turned out to fit him perfectly. It was probably his, something he left at Kei’s house a while back and forgot about. “I blew out the candles, by the way.”

“Thanks.”

“Welcome.”

“Are you warm enough?” Kei asked.

“Are you?”

“Let’s just say that I'm going to be extra clingy tonight.”

“You, clingy?” Tadashi giggled. “That's never happened before.”

“Well, there's a first time for everything.” Kei shrugged, finally shutting the dresser drawer and walking over to the door. “I'm getting more blankets, make yourself comfortable.”

“Okay!”

Kei walked down the hall to the next door, grabbing the two blankets on Akiteru’s bed before slipping out as quickly as he came. He was back in his own room in just under a minute.

“That was fast,” Tadashi said, sitting at the foot of the bed. 

“It wasn't that far.” Kei sat down at the head, crossing his legs and blowing out the candle on the nightstand. He just realized how big his bed was.

And that now was just as good a time as any.

“Um, Tadashi?”

“Mm?”

“I have something to tell you.” Kei rushed his words, just trying to get them out.

“I know.”

Kei looked up, eyes wide. “You  _ know _ ?”

Tadashi let out a long breath before he nodded. “Yeah. I know what's been happening, and I know a tiny bit of what it's doing to you.”

“Then why didn't you -”

“I thought you would want to deal with it on your own. You said you didn't want me to worry about it.”

“Did you worry about it?”

Tadashi nodded again. “But there's a lot I... don't understand.”

“And that's why I'm telling you everything.” Tadashi knowing about it threw a wrench in Kei’s plan, but whatever. In the end, it would probably be easier this way. “Right now, no bullshit.”

“Okay.” Tadashi frowned. 

“Just so I don't say anything redundant, how much  _ do  _ you know?”

“I know that reviews are bad, and you're desperate to make them better.” Tadashi chuckled nervously, scratching the back of his head. “That's pretty much it. I haven't been paying attention as much as I should be.”

If only it was that simple.

“It’s a little more than just bad.” Kei looked down at his hands, bunched up in his lap. “They're actively getting worse, and they have been for a while now.” He took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a second. He couldn't let himself get caught up in all this. “I've essentially dug myself into a hole, and now I can't get out of it.”

“Do you... want to get out of it?” Tadashi asked. His voice was quiet, understanding.

“Yes and no.” Was Kei going to say this now? Yes, he had to say it eventually. “I want to get things back to where they were before, but I feel like that'll just make... other things worse.”

“Like what?”

“The balance. Uh, between us.” The words came out of Kei’s mouth before he knew what he was saying. “I know it doesn't make sense.”

“That's the point of us doing this, isn't it?” Tadashi smiled. “To make things make sense.”

“Right.” Kei nodded. “Anyway, I feel like if I do anything to drag myself back up again, I'll knock you over in the process.” He hated how even when he was supposed to be talking about his feelings, he sounded so damn academic. “So far, I've noticed that only one of us can get good reception at a time. It can switch off, but one of us will always get the short end of the stick. I'd rather that be me than you.”

“Okay.”

“Of course, that's in a perfect world where I get to pull all the strings and decide where and when I fall back, and how far.” Kei narrowed his eyes as his voice started to get some of its usual bite back. That was surprisingly comforting. “But we don't live in a perfect world, we live in a world where Kageyama almost fucking drowns, my brother breaks his leg in a stupid fucking car crash, and even if I did get something right tonight, I'm leaving for training camp in two days so I'll be fucking torn apart anyway for ‘skipping’ for a week.” He sighed. “Whenever I try to do something to get me back in everyone’s good graces again, something always gets in the way.” He paused. “Well, that's shit wording, but something comes up. You get yourself hurt, Kageyama gets captured and I'm the only one who's worried about how long he's going to last, I have to leave in the middle of a job because I have to make sure my brother’s not dead, and I care about all those things more than some stupid praise from some asshole on Twitter.”

“That's a good thing, though. You know what your priorities are.”

“I know. I don't want to change that, but...” Kei thought of what to say for a second before he started talking again. “The things that really matter end up making me look bad. Each and every time.”

“That's not your fault.”

“It’s not like anyone else knows that,” Kei muttered. 

“It’s like you said, though.” Tadashi spoke slowly, choosing every word carefully. “No one else knows anything.”

“Neither do I.” Kei barely whispered it, but he knew it was true. He didn't know what he wanted, let alone how to get it. He doubted everything he thought he was sure about, and he had no idea where he was supposed to go from here. Every path he could possibly take had its own consequences.

So he made it his goal to become the person everyone else wanted him to be. He'd go against half his moral code, he'd work himself to death, people close to him would end up dead, he'd lose everything that made him  _ him _ . He'd just be a slave to these people, doing whatever they wanted him to do despite what he might have thought. And that might not even work.

So then he went the other way, being his own person no matter what anyone else said. That was entirely impossible, he couldn't just stop listening to people when they were everywhere. And even if he could, he'd probably do some things that were... legally questionable, to say the least. He'd lose his credibility completely in the process, and with that he'd break off from everyone else and end up some vigilante on the run from everything.

And then he thought those were both extremes, so he stayed where he was, right in the middle. Of course that wouldn't work, he'd just get more and more self-destructive and fall farther and farther behind until he just gave up. His relationship with Tadashi wouldn't last, and it would eventually go up in flames.

“What?”

“I said,  _ I  _ don't know anything.” Kei looked Tadashi right in the eye, trying and failing to keep his voice level. Now that he'd actually said it, all bets were off. “Nothing seems right anymore, and whatever I do, it just makes everything worse.”

“You know I would have helped you, right?” Tadashi sounded hurt, like what he said earlier about leaving Kei to it was just a front. It probably was.

“That's what I was worried about.” Kei frowned, looking down again.

“W-what do you mean?” Tadashi asked. His voice was quiet, too quiet, and Kei knew he'd said the wrong thing. 

“If I'd asked you to help me, if I'd told you  _ anything,  _ you would have brought yourself down for my sake,” Kei whispered. “You would do less on purpose, and everyone would lump you right in with me and give you the same treatment. It wouldn't even do anything to help me. I don't want you to go through it again for no reason.”

“I can take it -”

“I can't.” Kei was at least a little glad for the darkness, Tadashi couldn't see how pathetic he looked that way. “This is my problem, I have to dig myself out of it. I don't know how to do that, but until I find a way, I don't want you to waste any energy pitying me that you could be spending doing something better.”

“But I want to, that's what I've been saying this whole time!” Tadashi’s voice shot up in volume, taking Kei by surprise. “I just want you to let me in!”

“You couldn't even begin to understand.”

“Because you're not telling me!” Tadashi narrowed his eyes. “And in case you don't remember, this exact same thing happened to me.”

“No, you woke up one day with freaky brain powers and those carried you the rest of the way.” Kei didn't want this, but at the same time, he couldn't stop himself. “You got lucky!”

“That's not true and you know it!”

“Then tell me what is!”

“I tried for months to find a way to make people like me,” Tadashi said, instantly a few decibel levels softer. “I tried everything, and nothing worked. I got desperate and nearly got myself killed, but no one saw it. And it was all because you set this standard, and people liked you. You were incredible, you  _ are  _ incredible, and I just couldn't keep up with you. The only way I got ahead was when you let me in.” He chuckled. “Well, you didn't voluntarily let me in, since you were unconscious at the time, but I got a break. That was before the whole mind powers thing even started.” 

“But they're still important.” Kei scowled. “I don't have anything like that and I never will. All that I'll get is what I have right now, and I know I can get the most out of everything I can do, but that has a limit and I’ll end up reaching that limit eventually. When it comes down to it, I'm not that powerful, not relatively.”

“But you are -”

“I'm not enough anymore, okay?” Kei had already said the words before he could register that  _ that  _ was the thing he hadn't wanted to tell Tadashi most of all. Hell, it was the thing he didn't want to tell himself. He was ashamed to admit it, but it was true. 

“What are you talking about -”

“That's what I've been hiding from you this whole time, are you happy?” 

Tadashi didn't respond. The silence hung down between them, thick like fog. Kei counted off the seconds; ten, then twenty, then thirty. Thunder boomed again outside, but neither of them flinched.

“That isn't true,” Tadashi whispered. “You've always been enough, it’s not your problem if no one else realizes that.”

“Then why are we here?” Kei asked, his voice already starting to break. “If I was enough, the past month wouldn't have been hell, we wouldn't be having this conversation because we wouldn't need to -” He felt something get caught in his throat. He didn't know what it was. “Hell, if I was  _ enough _ , would my brother be okay?”

Tadashi’s eyes went wide. “That was random chance, you did everything you could have done.”

Kei scowled. “But could I have done more if I was better?” He sighed. “Everyone’s right.”

“No, they're not!” Tadashi glared right into Kei’s eyes. “They couldn't be more wrong!”

“People are getting hurt because I'm not good enough!”

“You're more than good enough!”

“Then what the fuck is wrong with me?!”

The tears started coming before Kei even knew what they were, let alone before he could stop them. He was already a mess, there was no way in hell he was going to cry now, it had been years and he'd never cried in front of anyone  _ ever _ .

“...Are you okay?” Tadashi asked, quietly and tentatively.

“What do you think?” Kei could barely see anymore. He took his now-smudged glasses off his face and set them down on the nightstand. “What the hell am I doing?”

The laugh that followed was completely devoid of any positive emotion whatsoever, just a distraction from how weak he really was. He didn't cry, he just  _ didn't _ , he was the strategic one, the stoic one, the one who could handle everything, the one who kept everyone anchored to logic and reality. He always had been. So why was this happening now?

“Believe it or not, you're feeling something,” Tadashi whispered with a small smile. “ Let it happen.”

“No, that is definitely not happening -”

“Trust me.” Tadashi went in for the hug, wrapping his arms around Kei’s shoulders and squeezing tight, almost cutting off his circulation. “I'm right here.”

Kei blinked, weighing his options over in his head. He was just the same as always, logical and reasonable, thinking before he acted. Then why were the tears already rolling down his cheeks?

He reciprocated the hug more on instinct than anything, trying to find a way to stop the tears or at least mute them somehow. Even if that way was burying his face in the fabric of Tadashi’s sweatshirt on his shoulder.

And when that didn't work, he stayed. He didn't move, and he let it happen. He wanted this all to be over, but he knew it wasn't going to be over for a long time. His only option was to tough it out and wait, and he liked it better here than anywhere else.

“Shh...” Tadashi kept his breathing slow and steady as he started to rub large circles into Kei’s back, obviously trying to make the situation a little more relaxed. “Just breathe, okay?”

Kei tried to do just that, sucking in one huge gulp of air after another. He hated this. He hated how vulnerable he was, how little control he had, how his insecurities were just out there in the open.

“I can do all the talking from now on.” Tadashi chuckled. “You don't have to say anything.”

Kei let out a sigh of relief.

“I don't know if you'll believe me, but you don't deserve anything the world’s throwing at you right now.” Tadashi’s voice took on the tone it always did whenever he was trying to get someone to relax so he could get into their head more easily. And he was succeeding at that; combined with his body heat and the constant but quiet beating of rain on the window, the entire environment was almost hypnotically soothing. Kei could feel his breaths slow down more and more every second. “I don't think I've ever seen you go out of your way so much just to do the right thing. That's really admirable and I wish more people knew about that.”

Kei could feel himself starting to blush. “Shut up.”

Tadashi laughed. “Not a chance, sweetheart.”

Kei just blushed more. 

“Anyway.” Tadashi let out a breath. “Remember in June when we were at that conference at that hotel with the rickety chairs and the wobbly table?”

“That's not something that I'd exactly choose to forget.” Kei’s cheeks still went bright red whenever he thought about what happened there, so he obviously wasn't going to  _ say  _ it, but Tadashi was probably going to mention it anyway.

“True.” Tadashi paused for a second. “You told me that nothing would be the way it was without me and that nothing was as simple or black-and-white as everyone made it out to be and no one was giving me enough credit.” He chuckled. “Then you kissed me, I kissed you, and then you told me something else.”

“And what would that be?” 

“Well.” Tadashi pushed Kei back with a smile, looking into his eyes again. “Tsukishima Kei, you are so much more than people say you are.”

Kei didn't know if he could handle any more blood rushing to his face. “Tadashi, please don't -”

“I'm not done.” Tadashi’s stare only got more intense. “You are the single smartest person I've ever met. You're resourceful, analytical, clever, and just straight up brilliant. Plus you're funny, you're really talented, and if that wasn't enough, you're really handsome -”

“Shut up, I'm  _ not _ .”

“Come on, I haven't even gotten to the hero part yet!”

"And I don't exactly feel like talking about that right now.” Kei frowned. “And I already know that everything you're going to say is pretty much the exact opposite of the truth.”

“Okay, fine. You're wrong, but I won't say anything.” Tadashi smiled. “But... I don't know. I guess I never really had the chance to make all that up to you.”

“You didn't need to.”

“Yes, I did, silly.” Tadashi giggled before interrupting himself with a yawn. “I don't know about you, but it’s late and I'm tired.” He swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood up, avoiding the random piles of stuff to get to the head. “Scootch.”

“What?” Kei blinked.

“Didn't you say you were going to be extra clingy?” Tadashi asked with a smirk. 

“You know, I'm not actually that cold anymore...” Kei trailed off with a smirk of his own in response.

“Are you really?” Tadashi reached out and grabbed Kei’s hand, the only part of him that wasn't covered by fabric of some kind beside his head, and his face changed instantly. “You're really cold.”

“Well, duh.”

“No, really.” Tadashi frowned. “Are you sure you're okay?”

“I'm  _ fine _ .”

“Promise you're not lying?”

“Promise.” 

“Okay.” Tadashi closed his eyes, and the next second Kei was hovering just above the bed before being plopped down a little to the right of where he was before. “Are you okay with this?”

“Of course I am.”

“Thanks.” Tadashi pulled the covers back and crawled in. It wasn't nearly as awkward as it could have been. They'd been closer together on two separate air mattresses at training camp. “Feeling any better?”

“Yeah, a little.” Kei nodded. “Thanks.”

“Anytime.” Tadashi scooted up and lay back, staring up at the ceiling. “I'm glad we figured all this out.”

“...So am I.” Kei did the same, following the cracks in the ceiling. “Can you do me a stupid favor?”

Tadashi laughed. “Yeah, probably.”

Kei didn't say anything. He didn't want to, and it didn't feel like he needed to. He just set one hand down in the space between them, palm up.

“What is -” Tadashi turned his head, smiling once he saw Kei’s hand. “Oh.”

He took the hint and put his hand in Kei’s own, lacing their fingers together without spending any more time on the subject.

“You're leaving for camp on Monday, right?” He asked.

“Yeah.”

“In that case, do you want to go out and do something tomorrow?” Tadashi’s voice instantly got more perky at the mention of a date. “There's probably a movie playing or something.”

“We both know that only bad things happen when we try to go see a movie.”

“Bad things happen on every date we've ever had, Tsukki, it’s practically destiny at this point.” Tadashi laughed. 

“Then why are you asking?”

“Well, I won't get to see you for a week, I have to do  _ something _ .” Tadashi paused. “You  _ are  _ taking the week off, right?”

“Unless I can find a way to sneak out of there undetected, yes.” 

“Good, you deserve it.”

“Would it be a bad thing if I said I was looking forward to the chance to be normal for a week?” Kei asked.

Tadashi giggled. “Lucky.”

“But it’s weird.” Kei frowned. “I've gotten too used to something that shouldn't be happening in the first place.”

“And that is?”

“People knowing.” Kei let out a breath. “Everyone on the team’s known for months now, so I've never had a problem with keeping anything from anyone.”

“But now you have to spend a week hiding everything.”

“Yeah, but there's more to it than that.” Kei could feel his eyelids beginning to get heavy, but he wasn't going to let himself fall asleep just yet. “People are going to be shit-talking me to my face and I can't say anything back.”

Tadashi chuckled. “That's never bothered you before.”

“It’s never been a problem before,” Kei said. “And didn't I just tell you that I'm an insecure wreck at this point?”

“Not explicitly, but I got the point.” Tadashi smiled. “Who says it’s even going to happen? With Hinata around, people won't even notice you're gone.”

“When you went out that one time with Kageyama -”

“Kageyama didn't do anything.”

“Yeah, but it still got me some shitty PR.” 

“This'll be different,” Tadashi said. “Hinata actually knows what he's doing now, so it shouldn't be a problem.” He squeezed just a little tighter. “And even if it was, you'd be able to handle it.”

“You have way too much faith in me.”

“No, you're just that amazing.” 

Kei’s eyes went wide as his body froze. Who knew he was that weak to compliments? “Really? Now?”

“You looked like you needed it.” Tadashi let out a long breath and closed his eyes. “Goodnight, Tsukki.”

And now he was just going to sleep after something like that. Either Tadashi was really oblivious or he knew exactly what he was doing, and Kei didn't know which was right.

But whatever. “...Tadashi?”

“Yeah?”

“Can you do one more thing for me?”

“Probably.” Tadashi rolled over onto his side at the same time Kei did, the two looking right at each other. 

“Can you...” Kei paused. How was he supposed to word this? “Um, I don’t know if I’ll be able to sleep after this.”

“So you want me to - oh.” Tadashi smiled knowingly. “Got it.”

“Thanks.” 

“Anytime.” Tadashi squeezed Kei’s hand just a little tighter. “This might feel a little weird.”

“I can do weird.” This had happened enough times that it wasn't weird anymore.

Was that in itself weird? Yeah, probably, but did Kei care? No.

“Good.” Tadashi looked up at the ceiling. “Close your eyes and take a deep breath.”

Kei did just that, trying to keep his breathing slow and even as his heart continued to pound in his chest.

“Okay, open your eyes again.”

Kei did.

“Look at me and keep your mind open,” Tadashi said, turning back onto his side.

Kei was already doing both.

“Okay.” Tadashi let out a breath as his eyes started to glow a little in the dark. “ _ Relax _ .”

Kei snapped instantly. As soon as Tadashi started using his mind control voice, he was under. It was predictable, it happened every time he did it, and yes, Kei was a sucker for it, but it worked and that was the only thing he needed out of it. His eyelids started to droop and he sunk into the mattress just a little more. Not like he really noticed. Another added bonus.

“Good.” Tadashi giggled. “Is that better?”

Kei barely had the energy to nod.

“Well...” Tadashi closed his eyes but didn’t let go. “Goodnight.”

“...Night,” Kei murmured, finally letting his eyes fall shut.

And for the first time in far too long, he let his mind go completely blank.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's not quite Thursday yet but I like this chapter and I have a show tonight and I need to get this up before I leave because I won't want to do it when I get home
> 
>  
> 
> _comments are greatly appreciated!!_


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you saw this chapter in the thirty seconds it was up 4 hours ago, I'm sorry and it's better now

Hinata Shouyou was an idiot. He had approximately the same mental capacity as a sardine, he made the dumbest out-of-left-field decisions, and he never thought about anything before making them. 

Nowhere was that more clear than training camp. Where he had the nerve to show up. Uninvited. 

By day two, Kei had gotten mostly used to him being there. Yes, he was pissed, and he'd explicitly told Hinata that yesterday, but it wasn't like his presence was much of a surprise anymore. Hinata got along with most people, which meant that both he and they didn't talk to Kei, and that was more than fine. Kei liked having time alone.

But all that ended on night two.

“So...” Koganegawa started, trying to break the slightly awkward silence that had settled over all six people at the dinner table. 

“So?” Kindaichi repeated from next to him.

“I think we should get to know each other.” Koganegawa grinned. “Considering how awkward last night was, we should at least say  _ something _ .”

Kunimi shrugged. Goshiki didn't look up from his phone. Naturally, Hinata was the only one who showed any enthusiasm.

“Look, at least  _ someone  _ here agrees with me.” Koganegawa looked at Hinata, who was directly across the table from him. “If we start doing something, everyone’s going to join in.”

“I'm not,” Kei grumbled. 

“I'm busy.” Goshiki frowned at the screen lighting up his face.

“Yeah, with what?” Koganegawa smirked. “Dating anybody?”

Goshiki’s cheeks turned bright red as he slammed the phone down on the table. “No, where did you even get that?”

“Just guessing.” 

“What  _ are  _ you doing?” Kunimi asked. “It looks kind of suspicious.”

“It's really not.” Goshiki picked up the phone again and held it up to show everyone whatever he was looking at. Kei didn't care what it was, so he didn't bother to look.

“Hm?” Kunimi leaned over to get a better look. “Oh.”

“What is it?” Hinata squinted at the tiny screen across the table from him. “I can't see.”

“‘Taking time off for school-related business, see you 12/9’,” Kunimi read aloud.

Wait.

“From at official-underscore-aka-underscore-md himself, right?” Koganegawa asked. “I saw that this morning.”

Great.

“Here we fucking go,” Kei mumbled to himself. Hinata must have heard, because he started giggling before Kei elbowed him in the arm. 

“What's so funny?” Goshiki asked, looking across the table at Hinata with narrowed eyes.

“Nothing!” Hinata’s eyes went wide. 

Goshiki gave him a weird look for a second before he turned the phone back around to face him. Bullet successfully dodged.

“While we're still on that subject...” Kindaichi looked over at Goshiki. “Didn't something happen here a few weeks ago?”

Goshiki shrugged. “Yeah.”

“How do you just give that a ‘yeah’?” Koganegawa chuckled. 

“Well, for one thing, it wasn't the first time.”

“What?!” Hinata, Koganegawa, and Kindaichi all managed to say it at the same time, with Kindaichi adding a “the hell” on the end. 

“How are you that lucky?” Kunimi asked.

“I don't know.” Goshiki tried and failed to hide a smile. “Anyway, I've been involved in this before, and I was on the other side of the school from where it was happening, so nothing really happened to me. But Tendou-san didn’t stop talking about it for a week.”

“Of course he didn't.” Kei rolled his eyes.

“And you want to know the worst part?” Goshiki continued. “Aka wasn't even there!”

Let the games begin.

“Whoa, really?” Koganegawa’s voice was tainted with sarcasm Kei had no idea he could produce. “I can't believe it!”

“Even if he did show up, do you think he would have done anything?” Kindaichi frowned. “It's not like he has an amazing track record.”

Bullshit.

“Yeah, he's not exactly perfect,” Kunimi added.

Surprisingly, not bullshit.

“And by not exactly perfect, I assume you mean that he kind of sucks.” Koganegawa laughed. 

Was that bullshit? Kei had no idea what to think on that one.

“It’s like he doesn't try anymore,” Kindaichi said.

_ Definitely  _ bullshit.

“I don't know.” Goshiki frowned. “I think he's trying, he's just... not as good as he used to be.” He let out a breath. “I know it hasn't been that long and I don't have a lot to go off of, but it's just gone downhill since October.”

“I'd say since July,” Kunimi muttered.

“Why’s that?” Hinata asked. Why was he even talking, that was the number one way to blow his cover.

“That's when Midori started getting really good,” Koganegawa said, “So naturally Aka’s been in his shadow more and more and it’s been one downer after another.”

“Yeah...” Goshiki looked down at his phone one more time before putting it down on the table. “I have no idea what he's doing.”

“Maybe he's just being lazy.” Kunimi frowned.

“Yeah, it just seems like he should be better than this,” Kindaichi agreed.

Kei barely resisted the urge to say that he  _ was  _ better than this. He could have told everyone to just do their research or that you never see the whole picture if you aren't actually there or that this whole thing wasn't nearly as easy as everyone seemed to think it was. But he couldn't say any of that without revealing who he was, and he didn't want to do that by any means necessary.

“But he is better than this!” Hinata cut in, his voice loud and perky in direct contrast with the somber tone of everyone else at the table. “Just because Midori’s really good doesn't mean Aka’s any worse.”

“It sure looks like he is,” Kunimi said.

“That's not the point!”

“Hinata, you naive fuck,” Kei hissed.

“Oh, so you  _ do  _ have an opinion!” Koganegawa grinned. “I was wondering when you were going to say something!”

“Maybe this just isn't worth my time.” Kei narrowed his eyes. He was trying as hard as he could not to panic. This could fall down around his ears at any second.

“So you're too cool even for  _ this _ ?”

“Yes, leave me alone.”

Koganegawa chuckled. “Suit yourself.”

“Anyway!” Hinata interrupted. Why was he still talking? If he didn't shut up right now, he'd say something that would make things irreparably bad. “Midori’s spent his entire life preparing for this, Aka can't exactly make up for that this early.”

“Why do you care so much?” Kei asked. He could barely keep his voice level. 

“I'm just trying to defend you - him!” Hinata went ghostly pale. Just as he should. “I meant him!”

Of course, it was too late to do anything about it. 

For a long time, no one said anything. Everyone just stared, most people at Kei except for, obviously, Kei himself, who looked anywhere but at anyone else. He'd never been this embarrassed  _ ever _ , and he hated nothing more than the feeling in the pit of his stomach that came with the entire fucking world ending.

“Tsukishima?”

“What?” Kei looked at Goshiki, the person he least expected to sound that  _ subdued _ . He was almost as pale as Hinata. Kei didn't want to know why.

“...Is Hinata saying what I think he's saying?”

Kei waited for a long few seconds before he slowly nodded, not wanting to accept the fact that that information was out there now. This wasn't the first time people had found out about it when he didn't want them to, but this just felt different. He didn't want to say anything, either, and he had no idea why. Maybe if he didn't say it, it wouldn't be real. But it was real, no matter what he did about it, and he was stupid to think otherwise. 

“But that's impossible, right?” Koganegawa asked. He was clearly thinking about every word, more than he had before. “You can't be -”

“Serious?” Kei tilted his head to the side with a frown. “You're just regretting saying everything now that you know I heard it.”

“But you're a -”

“A piece of shit?” Kei shrugged. He was trying to play this off the way he usually would and not care about it, but he did care, and the combination of the two just made everything more awkward. “That's fair.” 

“But -”

“If you're denying it this much, it means I'm doing something right, doesn't it?” Kei asked.

Koganegawa just stared at him for no less than five seconds before he nodded. Very, very slowly.

“I never would have guessed.” Kindaichi was just as awestruck as everyone else.

“That's the point, though, isn't it?” Kunimi frowned before he looked at Kei, eyes narrowed. “Your delightful personality is just a cover so people have no idea what you really do.”

Kei shook his head. He couldn't imagine himself actually trying that hard. “No, Angry Bird’s right, I'm definitely a piece of shit.” 

“What did you just call me?” Koganegawa interjected.

“Doesn't matter, I'm proving Kunimi’s point,” Kei said. He wasn't very hungry anymore. If anything, he just wanted to get out of here. The next chance he had, he'd slip out and find a place to think. But with everyone fussing over him like this, he doubted he'd get it.

“But I've seen everything on TV and stuff.” Kindaichi narrowed his eyes. “You're clearly not one hundred percent asshole.”

That was true. “And your point is?”

“What are you really li-”

“And I'm not answering any more questions tonight, check back tomorrow.” Kei clenched his jaw and stood up. Forget trying not to make a scene, he just didn't want to answer  _ that _ , especially when he didn't know. He walked out into the hallway and leaned against the wall, making sure no one was coming before letting out one long, exhausted, breath.

He needed to talk to Hinata, but he could do that later. He needed a moment.

What was he really like? How could he even approach a question like that? It was a question that had a long answer, no matter what that answer was, and he had no idea where to even start. The person he was at school and the person he was on the job seemed completely different from each other, and completely different again from the person he was when no one was watching, but they all seemed equally real to him. Sure, he did have a reputation to keep up, but it never felt like he was faking it all that much. It was just a little bit of a stretch, that was all.

He pulled his phone out of the pocket of his jacket before thinking about it. Why wouldn't he? When the one person who would know what to do in a situation like this was, for all intents and purposes, a world away, he didn't really have a choice but to call -

“Tsukishima!”

“What?” Kei looked up and scowled once he saw Hinata walking toward him. 

“I was looking for you.” Hinata leaned against the wall right next to him. 

“What do you want?”

“Um...” Hinata trailed off, looking up at the ceiling as he thought of what to say. “I'm really sorry. I know I shouldn't have said -”

“I don't want your apology, it means jack shit now.”

Hinata frowned. “But -”

“This is about way more than what you said.” Kei knew that getting mad at Hinata wouldn't change anything, but that didn't change that he was mad at Hinata in the first place. “You're only involved in this whole superhero business because we need to have two people on a job at all times. It's less work and it's safer for everyone involved, it makes  _ sense _ .”

Hinata dejectedly looked down at the floor. “...Oh.”

“But when you throw caution to the wind like that, you fail to realize that this goes beyond you,” Kei continued, his voice starting to bite at the ends of words. “You're so focused on doing whatever you want that you completely ignore what's put in place to make this work.”

“But I thought -”

“If everything had gone according to plan, you and Tadashi would take care of anything that came up and there wouldn't be any problems.” Honestly, Kei cared even less about interrupting him than he did most of the time. “But no, now that you're here, Tadashi has to go on jobs alone and there's a definite chance that he'll get himself killed. Did you not spend a  _ second  _ thinking about that before coming here?” 

“...No.” Hinata frowned.

“That's what I thought.” Kei let out a breath. “Now that we've gone over the irresponsible things you did, we have to go over the idiotic things you said.”

“I know what you're thinking and I know I screwed up, but -” 

“Do you know why people aren't supposed to know who I am?” 

Hinata tilted his head to the side. “No, not really.”

“It’s dangerous.” Kei frowned. “If someone knows who I am, they can target me directly, and if someone knows who I'm close to, they can target them in an attempt to get to me. This isn't exactly the kind of information people want to keep secret, so we want to limit how much it spreads by only telling a select few people. If too many people know, we won't be able to control who knows what, and the wrong people could know the wrong things.”

“Oh.” Hinata looked back behind him for a second. “But they'll keep it a secret, right?”

“They'd better.”

Silence.

“Um, in case you wanted to know, I really was trying to defend you in there.” Hinata’s voice was quiet. Uncharacteristically so.

“I'm sure.”

“People were saying crappy things about you, and you weren't proving them wrong or anything and you looked like you wanted to crawl under a rock, so I had to do it for you.” Hinata chuckled. “I may have gotten a little carried away.”

Kei blinked. That wasn't the kind of rebuttal he was expecting. He was expecting Hinata to say he did it just because they were wrong, but no. He did it for Kei’s sake, too, and the gesture was... strangely appreciated. Even if it was the dumbest possible way of going about it. “Thank you...?”

“You're welcome!” Hinata grinned.

Wait.

“Do you really think that you're off the hook just because you said something nice?” Kei narrowed his eyes. 

“I don't know...?”

“Well, you're not.” Kei frowned. “You did this, so you're going to pay for it.”

“But I'm broke -”

“I know that, idiot, I didn't mean it literally,” Kei said. “If any jobs come up, you're not going.”

Hinata’s eyes went wide. “Tsukishima! I was supposed to go on those!”

“You were supposed to go because I wasn't able to. Now that we're both equally not able to, it's my job again.” Kei looked down the hall for a second. “But there might be one good thing that came out of this.”

“You, an optimist?” Hinata gasped for dramatic effect. “I had no idea you could do that!”

“Shut up,” Kei said. “Now that people know, they can help me - let me repeat,  _ me _ , not us and definitely not you - sneak out if I - again, not you - need to.”

“You don’t need to be such a jerk about it!”

“It’s what I do.”

“That’s true.” Hinata blinked. “Are you going back to the table?”

Kei stared at him for a second. “What do you think?”

“No...?”

“Ding ding.” Kei looked toward the door at the end of the hallway. “I’m going outside, don’t talk to me.”

“Okay -”

“What did I just say two seconds ago?”

Hinata pouted. “Tsukishima, you’re horrible.”

“That is no one’s fault but your own.”

Before Hinata could say anything in response, Kei was already walking toward the doors, toward fresh air and an escape from the extraordinary when he just wanted to be normal.

* * *

 

Kei was glad that no one talked to him the rest of the night. It seemed like they were avoiding him, but that was much better than the incessant questions when everyone else on Karasuno found out. He could avoid it a lot easier this way.

At least, until people started talking to him the next morning. He wondered if it was Hinata’s idea. That wasn't too much of a stretch. 

It was mostly just apologies, really awkward apologies, at least at this point. Koganegawa and Kindaichi had both come up to him at a free moment and stuttered a lot before spitting out that they had no idea. Kei didn't really care; he was more concerned with the fact that they knew at all than what they thought about him. And he didn't like people fussing over him like that.

But if he thought  _ they  _ were fussing over him, he was in for a surprise.

“Tsukishima, I need to talk to you.”

Kei blinked, looking up from where he was tying his shoe. Goshiki Tsutomu, being serious about something without trying to make a big deal out of it? That was new. “Is this an apology for last night? Because you're the third person to give me one.”

“Kind of.” Goshiki paused. “But if you don't want me to waste your time -”

Kei looked at him with narrowed eyes. He hadn't known him that long, but something was off. Kei didn't know what, but something about the way Goshiki was acting now versus this time yesterday seemed different. Different than the way everyone else had changed in the past twenty-four hours. “What are you really here for?”

“I guess I just wanted to talk to you about - about superhero stuff... if that's okay!” Goshiki took a step back. “If you don't want to talk about it, I can -”

“...Okay.” Kei slowly nodded. Despite trying to avoid it, when people looked at him now, they saw Aka just as much as they saw the lanky blond kid with glasses sitting right in front of them. The least he could do was act the part.

Goshiki narrowed his eyes. “I thought you would be a lot more...”

“Closed off?” Kei shrugged. “If I wasn't under pressure to act the way you clearly expect me to, I would be.”

“Oh, there's no pressure!”

“There's more than you think there is.” Kei frowned. “Why are you acting so weird?”

“I'm not acting weird!”

“If you say so.” Kei looked up from where he was sitting. “What do you want to know?”

“Well, um.” Goshiki paused, looking up as he thought of what to say. “Do you remember a job in August when you were fighting this guy who had ice powers and stuff?”

Kei nodded. He did remember that, if not well. A shopping mall had been attacked, and plenty of people had been completely frozen for at least a few minutes. 

“I was there, that's what I was talking about last night.” Goshiki’s smile looked nervous. “I was with my sister, and we were separated when everything happened. She got out in time, I didn't, and -” He looked like he was about to explode. “I was frozen for two minutes. Probably more. You, uh, saved my life.”

Kei narrowed his eyes. “Are you sure that was me?”

“Yeah.” Goshiki smiled. “You've probably done so much stuff that there's no way you can remember specifics, but thanks.”

“It’s my job, don't mention it.” This was the first time anyone had gone out of their way to give Kei some credit in person, and it felt much nicer than expected. 

“And I'm really sorry about last night, I didn't know -”

“You weren't supposed to.” Kei frowned. “Your opinions are your opinions, and I don't care one way or the other what you think.” That was kind of a lie, but he really was prepared to just brush things off last night if Hinata hadn't stepped in.

“Well, whatever.” Goshiki sucked in a breath. “What should I do if something happens?”

That wasn't a question Kei was expecting. “I'd need to find a way out of here -”

“I go to school here, I know some secrets.” Goshiki grinned. “You'll be able to get out of here fine with my help.”

Kei nodded. “Good to know.”

“Anything else?”

Kei rolled his eyes. “You're going to ask me to sign your math notebook or something, aren't you?”

“I'm not  _ that  _ desperate!”

“Sure.”

“Really!” 

Kei let out a breath. “If anything, this'll distract you enough for me to block you at least fifty percent more than I did yesterday.”

Goshiki gasped. “Hey!”

Kei shrugged. “I'm just being logical.”

Goshiki narrowed his eyes and was about to say something before he cut himself off. “Have you ever used your powers in a game?”

Kei shook his head. He had definitely played dirty at practice before, but everyone else essentially forced him to. Hinata would benefit from it a lot more than Kei did, but even he had a strong moral code. It never came up.

“Why not?” Goshiki asked. “If you're really subtle about it, it could be a really big advantage.”

“The risk outweighs the reward,” Kei said. 

“That's true, I guess.” Goshiki looked at Kei with a mischievous smile. “Have you ever wanted to?”

“Not really.”

“What?!” Goshiki’s eyes went wide. “Why wouldn't you want to?”

“It’s cheating, it takes more energy, and it isn't that special.” Kei frowned. 

“It isn't special?!”

“I've been a freak of nature for five years, so no.”

“Whoa...” Goshiki stared for a second before instantly snapping back. “Well, I'm not going to let you and your freak superpowers stop me from getting past more of your blocks than I did yesterday.”

“If that's what helps you sleep at night.”

Goshiki grinned one more time before he ran off toward the center of the gym, instantly engulfed in a conversation with Koganegawa and Hinata as soon as he got there. 

Kei stood up and followed, at least slightly reassured that his more... peculiar qualities could be ignored when volleyball was the only thing on everyone’s minds.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tbh this chapter and the next two are the ones I'm most proud of in the whole fic
> 
> As always comments (and kudos but especially comments) are greatly appreciated!


	9. Chapter 9

Three days went by without much of anything. Just volleyball all day without a whole lot of superhero talk. Except for a text from Tadashi saying he was totally fine on his own if anything came up, Kei almost felt normal after all.

It was just after dinner on Friday when he realized that there could be something going on without him. Friday was traditionally job day, and since he'd been busy he hadn't checked his phone, which he’d been charging right next to the futon he’d been sleeping on all week - he had no way to express how thankful he was for that outlet. He was surprised that he hadn't noticed a huge chunk of his life missing.

“Tsukishima!”

That was Hinata calling his name from out in the hall. What did he want?

“Tsu-ki-shi-ma!” 

Koganegawa. If it was the two of them, they just wanted to screw around. Kei wasn't wasting his time with them.

“Tsukishima, where are you?” 

That was Kindaichi, someone who screwed around considerably less than Hinata and Koganegawa. Maybe something actually was happening. Maybe there was actually a good reason people were calling Kei’s name over and over again.

“There you are.”

Kei looked up to see Kunimi standing in the doorway with a frown on his face, looking down the hall where everyone was still yelling. 

“What's going on?” Kei asked. 

“There's something you might want to see.” 

Kei unplugged his phone - 86% wasn’t perfect, but he’d take it - before he stood up and followed Kunimi out into the hallway. Kunimi didn't say a word the entire time, he just kept walking. The two of them walked out of the building and across the school grounds in the dark, eventually coming to a stop in front of another building. Kunimi opened the front door and walked into what looked like a lounge area, filled with a few couches surrounding a coffee table. Goshiki was sitting on one of the couches, staring at a laptop on the table in front of him with a pensive frown.

This all just seemed so weird.

Kunimi sat down next to Goshiki on the couch and stared at the laptop for a few seconds before he looked up at Kei, pointing to the spot on Goshiki’s other side. Kei nodded and sat down, hoping that whatever was on the screen would help him understand.

Long story short, it did.

The screen showed a full screen view of Sendai city lit up by lights from buildings and cars. The camera footage was slightly grainy, but it was easy to see what was going on. Even if this wasn't as flashy as it usually was.

Tadashi's uniform was easily spotted even in the dark, darting back and forth seemingly everywhere at once. He was probably getting stressed from the pressure of having to take on a job alone, but that wasn't the problem.

The problem was that every time Tadashi attacked, his opponent found a way to push back. The guy didn't look like much, but he was clearly more than met the eye if he could match Tadashi that well. Every encounter ended with Tadashi taking a hit, and every time he took longer and longer to get back to his feet. Before long, the guy could just hit him when he was down and that really wouldn’t be good.

What was going on?

“How long has this been happening?” Kei asked. His mouth was completely dry.

“The livestream started ten minutes ago,” Goshiki said. “I think the job’s been going on a little longer.”

Shit, this wasn't good. 

“What should we do?” Kunimi asked.

“Get everyone else back here, I need them to cover for me,” Kei said. 

Kunimi nodded, taking his phone out of his pocket and quickly typing something out. “I just told them, they should be here soon.”

“Goshiki, how do you get out of here?” Kei asked. 

Even though they were still trained on the screen, Goshiki’s eyes lit up. “Well, there are two ways of doing it -”

“And the quickest one is to hop the back fence,” someone else finished. Kei didn't look up to see who it was until they'd already stopped talking, but the voice sounded strangely familiar.

“Oh, crap,” Kunimi muttered.

Kei’s focus shifted to the stairs.

Goddammit. This wasn't good, someone else was going to find out and it was  _ him _ -

“Who’s sneaking out and why?” Tendou Satori himself walked down the stairs before standing behind the couch, leaning forward to see over Goshiki’s head. 

Kei hoped he wouldn't put two and two together. If he knew what was going on, things would only get worse. 

“We're just watching the livestream, it’s nothing special,” Kunimi said. Bless his soul.

“But that doesn't explain why anyone’s-  _ Oh _ .” Tendou’s eyes went wide before he started laughing. “Oh,  _ wow _ .”

So much for not putting two and two together.

“This is the juiciest thing I've heard all year!” Tendou cackled. “What the  _ hell _ !” He looked like he was about to die from laughing so hard. That would be a welcome improvement.

Kunimi leaned in front of Goshiki and mouthed “sorry” in Kei’s direction. It wasn't even his fault. Kunimi Akira was a gift.

“So you're the one who's trying to bust out of here, huh?” Tendou looked at Kei with a grin. “Surprising.”

“That's what they all say.” Kei rolled his eyes. Why was all this happening now? He just needed to go back to his room, grab his uniform, and get out, but no. He had to be caught up in semantics like this. “Can we  _ please  _ get on with it?”

“Right, right.” Tendou stood up again, walking toward the door. “Right this way, Aka-kun!”

“Don't call me that.” Kei begrudgingly followed him outside. 

“Then what am I supposed to call you?” Tendou shut the door behind him. “Calling you by your name sounds weird now.”

“Do it anyway.” 

Tendou hummed to himself as he walked back to the other building where Kei had been before. “You have to go change, right?”

“Yes, and you're staying out here.” Kei walked into the building and up the stairs to his room. His uniform was in the very bottom of his bag. He wasn't supposed to bring it at all, considering he wasn't supposed to be doing anything, but he'd packed it just in case something like this came up. He changed as quickly as he could, barely remembering to take his phone out of the pocket of his sweatshirt before he took it off.

He held the phone in his hand for a second before he unlocked it and opened the messages app.

 

To: Yachi Hitoka, Yamaguchi Tadashi

7:17 PM

Can someone tell me where the job is I'm coming

 

Kei had just turned the phone off when it buzzed in his hand.

 

From: Yachi Hitoka (Group)

7:17 PM

Are you sure?

 

Kei was definitely sure.

 

To: Yachi Hitoka, Yamaguchi Tadashi

7:18 PM

Yes do you have an address

 

Kei waited for an agonizing few seconds before Yachi finally responded. The place was only fifteen minutes from here.

 

To: Yachi Hitoka, Yamaguchi Tadashi 

7:19 PM

Thanks

 

Kei finished changing before he zipped his phone up in one pocket of his jacket and ran downstairs. He instantly felt a lot more self-conscious when he saw the look on Tendou’s face. What did he do to deserve this?

“Snazzy!” Tendou was already walking away from the mass of buildings they'd come from, toward a metal fence with a forest on the other side. “Just get over that fence and you're home free.”

Kei nodded, grateful to finally be out of here -

“And one more thing.”

“What.” Kei turned around to see Tendou grinning again with his hands in the pockets of his hoodie.

“Don’t get banged up too bad,” Tendou said. “You’re representing this great prefecture at nationals, after all.”

Kei turned back around to face the fence. “I’m already representing this great prefecture in plenty of other things. Nationals is the least of my worries.”

He started jogging toward the fence, not responding when Tendou shouted something after him. He couldn’t waste any more time. 

He was already in the air before he even started putting his mask on. He didn’t know if he’d just forgotten to do it or if he didn’t want to do it in front of Tendou, but either way, he was only doing it now. He was shaken up, more so than he’d been in a long time, and all he knew was that he had to get there as soon as possible. He could think about what he wanted to do once he got there.

He took his phone out of his pocket and tapped the address Yachi sent him, letting it guide him like a star.

* * *

 

Tadashi hit the ground again, wincing in pain as his leg hit the pavement right where a bruise was already forming. He took a second to breathe before hopping back up to his feet again. He had to get this done as fast as he could, he'd never been that physically adept and the injuries he'd already sustained weren't helping that any.

His mind raced as he looked at the situation around him. People lay motionless on the ground all around him. They weren't dead, just... he didn't really know for sure, but he'd heard faint breathing the entire time he'd been here. He had to move them out of the way eventually. He didn't want to crush them with anything he happened to be throwing around. Not like that would do any good.

Tadashi looked up just in time to see the man behind all this walking towards him, a sinister grin on his face. He was dressed in all black, like Tadashi was, but instead of looking stealthy he looked terrifying.

But he was a mystery. Tadashi had no idea what he could do, what kind of powers he had, even after fighting him for fifteen minutes. But he'd been able to take every attack Tadashi tried to throw at him and turn it on its head, wearing Tadashi down more and more each and every time.

Why was this the job he had to do alone?

“You look scared, Midori-kun,” the man said, walking slowly but steadily closer.

Tadashi suddenly found himself frozen. He couldn't move. “What do you want?”

“Me?” The man chuckled. “Shouldn't you be worried about yourself? You don't seem to be running away to plan your next futile attack.”

Tadashi could feel his heart racing in his chest. “What are you doing to me?”

“Your sense of fear has been heightened to the point where you're paralyzed,” the man said. “You're welcome.”

So this guy could work with fear. That wasn't exactly easy to get around. 

“See everyone around you?” The man gestured to the bodies lying all over the street. “They're trapped in their worst nightmares until someone wakes them up.” He looked back at Tadashi again. “Too bad you can't.”

Wait.

Tadashi closed his eyes. He remembered a book lying on the street behind him next to one of the people. He tried to picture it in his mind. It wasn't very big, but the cover was black. He remembered that much. 

He imagined the book lifting up into the air and flying through the air only to hit the man square in the face. 

“What the shit -”

Tadashi opened his eyes again to see the book lying on the ground and a tiny dent in the man’s forehead. That would fade.

Good to know that telekinesis was still a thing.

He used the open moment to try to run, and his legs cooperated with him. He ran past the throngs of people and ducked around a corner to breathe. As far as he knew, the man was still dealing with his face. It gave Tadashi time, one thing he really needed at a moment like this. 

As soon as he'd caught his breath, he ducked around the corner again, expecting the man to still be where he was before.

He was standing right in front of him.

“Did you really think you could run away that easily?” The voice itself cut right through into Tadashi’s soul and sent a shiver up his spine. His breathing instantly sped up, and he knew he couldn't control this, that it was the man’s fear powers getting to him, but he was petrified. There was nothing he could do.

He might die here.

“Midori-kun, have you ever had a nightmare?” The man asked.

Tadashi’s eyes went wide. Of course he'd had a nightmare before, he wasn't a kid that long ago-

The man put his hand out in front of him, and Tadashi instantly felt his eyelids getting heavy. His entire body was heavy. He started to sway before he dropped to his knees. His eyes fluttered shut just before he hit the ground.

* * *

 

Kei was running out of time. He'd been in the air for ten minutes, and during those ten minutes, Tadashi was probably wearing himself out even more. How long would be able to hold up on his own, especially against someone who could predict and counter his every move?

Kei kept his speed up as he looked down at his phone, glad he was almost there. The blue dot that showed his location was getting ever closer to the red dot that showed his destination, and he just wanted the distance between the two to disappear entirely.

He knew he was in the right place when he heard all the telltale noises and saw all the giveaway sights. Sirens accompanied flashing lights on police cars and ambulances, and people were everywhere. Amidst the sea of people were TV cameras and bright lights, but something seemed wrong. People were lying on the ground, motionless, and everyone who was standing seemed unable to look away. It was a little too quiet, there was too little movement, and -

Oh, shit. Oh shit oh shit oh shit. 

Right as his feet hit the pavement, Kei’s heart stopped. Well, it either stopped or was beating too fast for him to register. He didn’t know, especially when every switch in his mind was set to “panic”. Everything was blurry, what with his glasses safe in his pocket, but he could see enough to know exactly what happened.

If he wasn’t paying attention, he wouldn’t have seen Tadashi at all. He was lying away from everyone else, right in the entrance to an alley. He wasn’t moving.

Was he trying to run away?

Kei tried to ignore the way his breathing sped up as he ran over and knelt down next to Tadashi, who didn’t stir despite the miniscule distance between them. He was breathing, though, and it looked steady. It looked like the whole artificial-sleep thing he did to people sometimes. 

“Hey.” Kei lightly shoved Tadashi’s shoulder, hoping he could wake him up that way. “Tadashi. Wake up.” When he didn’t get a response, he tried again, shoving a little harder this time. “Come on. Don’t do this to me now.”

“Just take me instead!” Tadashi shouted, his eyes shooting open wide as he sat up at lightning speed, panting hard. There was something in his eyes that Kei couldn't quite identify, a ferocity he'd never seen before.

“Hey, hey. Calm down.” Kei put one arm around Tadashi’s shoulder and kept his voice down to a whisper. What had happened to him? This wasn't making any sense. 

“...Huh?” Tadashi blinked a few times before he seemingly came back to his senses. He leaned back against Kei’s arm and tried to keep his breathing steady. “You're alive?”

“Any reason I wouldn't be?” Kei asked. He wanted to know what was going on, but that could wait. He'd start asking an hour after Tadashi’s face stopped being so deathly pale.

Tadashi let out a long sigh. “...No.”

“I don't know what happened to you while I was coming over here, but whatever it is, it’s over now.” Kei could feel Tadashi’s heartbeat starting to slow as he gradually calmed down. Good.

“...Tsukki, what are you doing here?”

“Someone was watching the livestream and I saw it and I thought I should slip out.” Kei smirked. “Have a problem with that?”

Tadashi shook his head. “I just... wouldn't that give you away?”

“Hinata already fucked it up for me, I had nothing to lose.”

“He  _ what _ -”

“I'll explain later.” Kei briefly looked up at the scene around him. No one seemed to be coming. “This comes first.” He looked back at Tadashi with a frown. “Can you tell me anything about who this guy is and what he can do?”

Tadashi nodded. He still looked a little dazed. “He can control fear... or something, I don't know for sure. I think that's how he was able to fight back so well, I was scared so I wasn't giving it everything I had.” He giggled. “You're not afraid of anything, though, so you should be fine.”

Kei felt a pang of guilt in his chest. There were definitely a few things he was afraid of, how did Tadashi believe in him that much? “Do you know why you were unconscious when I got here?”

“If he gets the chance, he’ll knock you out and you'll be trapped in a dream about whatever you're most afraid of. That's what's happening to all these people.” Tadashi started folding in on himself. “That's why I was so freaked out when I woke up, I thought you were -” He stopped himself, like he couldn't bring himself to finish the sentence. The only word that popped into Kei’s head was “dead” and that made perfect sense.

“Well, I'm right here.”

“...Good.”

Kei slowly stood up again, looking around for any signs of movement. There weren't any. “I'm going to try to find this guy. Stay here as long as you need to.”

“Wait, but I'm coming with you -”

“Your entire skillset is based on brainpower, you're not going to be able to do everything you should be able to do if you aren't thinking straight.”

“Okay.” Tadashi bobbed his head up and down once. “Thanks.”

“Welcome.” 

Kei started running again, trying to find the man. As soon as he'd gotten Tadashi out of the way, he didn't have anyone to stop him; he could be literally anywhere. Who was to say he wasn't halfway across the city by now, terrorizing more people? And Kei had no idea where to start looking.

Thankfully, he didn't have to go far. 

He instinctively let a spark form at his fingertip when he first saw someone move. He didn't attack outright- there could be someone there who he didn't want to hurt - but if the guy he was looking for was right there, he could just go on the offensive.

As soon as he recognized the man’s outfit, he turned the spark into a beam of electricity and shot it right out in front of him, hoping he'd just get in enough of a hit to knock him down right then and there.

The man got hit right in the back, and it looked like it would all go as planned. He froze for a second, started crumpling to the ground, and -

Of course it couldn't be that easy.

“Shame on you, trying to hit someone from behind like that,” the man said, turning around to face Kei head-on. His stare alone made Kei feel weird. “I thought you at least would want a fair fight, Aka-kun.”

“Bullshit.” Kei scowled, trying to push out whatever had started eating at the back of his mind. “I want to win.”

“Oh?” The man smirked. “That's not the kind of thing you want to say when your morality’s being called into question.”

“ _ What _ ?” Kei took a step back. Who knew if that was even true, it might have just been this guy trying to take advantage of his insecurity on that particular subject, but why? Out of all the things to shit on him for -

“You don't know?” The man asked. “They're starting to doubt you're a hero at all. I'm surprised you're even here.”

“So you're saying you didn't prepare for me?” Kei narrowed his eyes. Screw saying the “right thing”. As far as he knew, that didn't exist. “That's rude.”

“Oh, no.” The man chuckled. “Preparation is everything.” 

He held his hand up, palm facing Kei’s forehead, and Kei felt  _ something _ . He didn't know what it was, but he just wanted to... maybe take a nap for a while...

“ _ Stay awake. _ ” 

The voice seemed to echo in Kei’s head, but it was enough. He snapped out of it instantly. The way he seemed more aware of everything around him wasn't bad, either.

Did mind control even work like that? He didn’t know. But whatever it was, it was more than good enough for him.

“Don't even  _ think  _ about touching him, you piece of shit!” Tadashi shouted, sounding angrier than he had in a long time, possibly forever.

“Do you really think your lackluster powers can hold up now?” The man asked. “You already failed, you know.”

Kei felt the urge to sleep again, stronger than before. He felt his knees start to buckle, his eyelids get heavy -

He was pulled up again, like he was a puppet on a string, just as awake as he'd been before this whole thing started. Ironic.

He only now realized what was happening. Tadashi and the man were in an intense game of mind control tug of war, and Kei was the rope. He felt like he was being pulled in opposite directions, and just when he thought he had a second to breathe, he'd be stretched out again.

His head started to hurt before long. He was being pulled metaphorically, but physically, two impressive forces were pushing in on him. They were going to crush him sooner or later.

And only one of them would give it up.

“Tadashi, don't bother.” Kei barely got the words out as he turned around. It was painful to say them.

“But I -”

“I know you're worried, just cut it out.” Kei clenched his jaw. Everything just kept getting worse. “Please.”

Tadashi’s eyes went wide. “But you can't -”

“Whatever happens, I can handle it.” Kei just wanted the pain to stop. He didn't care how. “And you're right there, right?”

“Yeah, but -”

“Tadashi, just do it!” Kei’s head was throbbing.

“I can't do that to you!”

Kei gulped, trying to ignore the pain for just a second. “It's better than this!” 

He shot a ray out of his finger and hit Tadashi in the leg. He didn't want to do it, he really didn't, but it was the only way to get Tadashi to back down. It would startle him, but it wouldn't hurt and it wouldn't last long. Just what Kei needed.

Tadashi yelped, just as Kei’s head stopped throbbing. “Kei, how could you -”

Kei couldn't respond. He was already falling, down, down, down into the dark nothingness that awaited him when he closed his eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope y'all don't mind me updating a day early, I know I have a show tomorrow night and won't have a chance to update then lmao


	10. Chapter 10

Kei woke up in a daze to an incessant buzz in his ear. None of the sounds from before were there anymore: no sirens, no engines, no chatter, nothing. Nothing except the buzzing.

He sat up and found himself in the middle of the same street he'd been in before, but it was strangely empty now. It was just him. Alone.

Good.

He wasn't wearing his uniform anymore. He was just wearing normal clothes, and he could feel his glasses on his face. And yet, he was still here. It was a weird mix of both sides of his life that made him feel weirdly vulnerable.

He stood up and looked around, trying to find something that could indicate what this dream was all about. Because his worst fear definitely wasn't being alone. He'd be happier without it, obviously, but he could at least handle solitude if he had to.

He saw a large black box in the distance, just lying in the middle of the street. It was huge - he could only see the front of it. But more importantly, it seemed like it could be the source of the buzzing. It looked like a huge speaker, that made sense.

Kei started walking down the street to at least look at it up close. 

When he got there, the buzzing only got louder. It sounded like radio static, and there didn't seem to be a button or anything he could push to make it stop. He knocked on the front of it and waited, wondering if something would happen.

A bright light shone out through the holes on the front of the speaker, almost blinding Kei in the process. He barely covered his eyes in time to avoid the worst of it. It was like looking into direct sunlight. 

For a second, the buzzing stopped. Everything was silent.

Two long, spindly legs started growing from under the speaker, pushing it up into the air little by little. Two equally long and equally spindly arms extended from the sides. It looked more goofy than menacing.

Kei just stood there and looked at it. Was it going to move? It probably was, but that time hadn't come yet. He had a little more investigating to do first.

He should have taken a step back, but instead he took a step forward, trying to get a closer look. The light was still shining out the front, but he’d gotten used to it by now. He could definitely find out what he needed to.

He reached out and touched the speaker, right at the edge where the front intersected with one of the sides. It was warm, but not too hot, and it was smooth. It felt almost like plastic. Kei ran one finger down the rigid edge, picking up some small dust particles along the way. How long had this thing been here?

“He certainly  _ used  _ to be able to pull it off.”

The voice that came from the speaker was quiet enough not to blast Kei’s ears off, but it had something to it. It sounded snobby, like whoever was saying it was sticking their nose up and sneering at whoever they were talking to.

“What the hell?” Kei whispered to himself, wondering what that could mean. Considering it was his own damn dream, whoever it was was probably talking about him. It still didn't strike him as something he was necessarily  _ afraid _ of _ ,  _ though. Sure, reviews had brought him down a little, but he knew whatever they had to say before they even thought about it. It was predictable, and predictability was nothing to be scared of.

“It's been months since he's done anything useful.”

A new voice, but still definitely about him. That was the same stuff he'd been hearing for months now. Where was this going?

Before he could take any more time to think, the speaker’s legs started moving. The right leg took a step first, followed by the left, and Kei barely had time to run before it would have rammed into him. He could outrun it easily, but where would he go? 

Or maybe he could just destroy it now and get it over with. That was a much better option.

Kei turned around to face the speaker again, pointing directly at it to send a white hot lightning bolt its way. He considered using the shockwave, but he knew this would be much more direct. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath in, and -

Nothing happened.

He didn't hear the trademark crackling and buzzing of sparks at his fingertips. He didn't see the brightness right in front of his closed eyelids. He couldn't feel the connection he always did.

He tried again. Nothing. He opened his eyes and tried a third time, making sure to focus and keep his mind clear. Nothing again.

At that moment, he realized that running was a much better option.

“Maybe he's just being lazy.”

That sounded distinctly like Kunimi. Kunimi, who didn't know any better, but was just making assumptions that were perfectly logical based on what he saw. Wrong, but logical nonetheless. But it sounded more biting now, almost like something Kei himself would say.

He kept running. The street seemed to go on forever, and the only thing that would limit him from running forever was his own physical ability. And that didn't seem like it would be a problem any time soon. 

”What happened to him?”

Kei tried to ignore the voices, which were getting farther and farther away as he ran faster and faster. But where could he go? This thing probably knew exactly where he would be at any given moment, what with this being a fear dream and all, so trying to find someplace to hide wouldn't do anything for him. It anything, it would make him an easier target because he wasn't moving. 

“He kind of sucks.”

That sounded like what Koganegawa had said a few nights back. It sounded more definitive now, but it was still his voice. But more importantly -

Fuck.

There was another speaker thing coming toward Kei from in front of him. There wasn't any side street he could turn down, and even if there was, there could be more of them still wherever he went. He was cornered.

Unless he went up and over.

He faced forward and picked up speed, knowing he didn't need to do it to take off but doing it anyway. He bent his knees and jumped at the perfect point to get over the top of the speaker -

Something went wrong. He didn't get the height and the momentum he had just sent him through the air for a second before gravity took its toll, a force he wasn't expecting to face. He fell right on his face and came to a stop, his entire body in pain.

Why the hell weren't his powers working?

He couldn't move for a few seconds. He just had to breathe, that was all he  _ could  _ do. 

The speaker robot things came to him while he was still down and trapped him in place, their weird robot hands keeping him down on the ground. His movement was even more restricted than it was before, and he felt even shittier. He felt stupid for thinking he even had a chance when he was effectively powerless.

“He's kind of a dud.”

Kei really didn't need that right now.

“Yeah, he's really failing this whole superhero thing.”

Kei  _ really _ didn't need that right now.

But one word stuck in his head, repeating over and over again to the point where he couldn't stop thinking about it if he tried. He finally understood what this was all about, what he was even doing here.

Failing. Failing failing failing. He was failing to live up to people’s expectations, he was failing to keep this whole thing a secret, he had only come on this job at all to protect Tadashi and since he was stuck here, he was failing to do that, too. 

And that was exactly what he was scared of.

He didn't deserve this, he never had. He just happened to be friends with a kid in a superhero family and be in the right place at the time six years ago. He wasn't a good hero, and plenty of people would die for a chance to be where he was. Why was the opportunity given to him?

“Let’s be real, Aka’s pretty pathetic.”

The speakers were blasting different things, but they were both as loud as they could go. Kei’s ears were bombarded on all sides by absolute bullshit.

“I don't know what he is, but he's definitely not a hero.”

“He's a joke.”

“He's a waste of airtime.”

“He's a failure.”

“Midori would be so much better off without him.”

Kei grimaced, his head throbbing from the barrage of sound. His face was still sore, his legs were stiff, and his heart wouldn't stop pounding in his chest, and he just wanted this to stop.

This was his dream, though, right? Even if it was all orchestrated by someone else, in the end, it was his subconscious creating all this. There had to be something he could do. He had to be able to change his thought process somehow.

_ “Holy shit, Kei, that was incredible!” _

That voice was definitely Akiteru’s. But it wasn't coming through either of the speakers. It echoed like it was a part of the world itself.

Kei found it weird that in a situation like this, replaying old memories in his head was the best solution he could come up with.

_ “It really wasn't _ .” Kei’s own voice echoed the same way Akiteru’s had.

“ _ But you looked so cool out there!”  _ Akiteru shot back. “ _ I knew it was you and I still couldn't believe it! _ ”

Kei heard himself scoff. “ _ So what? _ ”

He guessed this was from right after his first job, all the way back in March. Akiteru had called him as soon as he got home and had gushed the whole time. Kei didn't admit that he felt uncharacteristically embarrassed at the compliments.

“ _ You’re going to be great at this, I can tell _ ,” Akiteru said. 

“ _ No, I'm not.” _

_ “We’ll see about that.” _

The echoing stopped as Akiteru’s voice faded out. Kei only realized that that was what enabled him to ignore the speakers for those few seconds as they started wailing at him again. He didn't recognize individual words - even if he could think straight through the pain, he didn't want to. 

_ "Tsukishima!” _ Hinata’s voice echoed through the air, taking Kei by surprise. At least it took his mind off what was actually happening.

“ _ What _ .” Kei’s voice sounded the same as before, the same as it always did.

“ _ Before I say this, I just want you to know that I'm never going to say something like this ever again, so listen.” _

Kei realized then that he had no idea when this exchange had taken place.

“ _ You were really cool,” _ Hinata grumbled.

_ “What?” _  Kei asked, obviously reveling in the glory that came with Hinata praising him. “ _ I didn't hear you _ .”

“ _ I said you looked really cool.”  _ As much as Hinata was trying to hide it, he was excited. “ _ The way you just went in and punched all those people in the face, I didn't know you could do that!” _

The echoing faded out once again, and the pain came back, just as sharp as it had been before. Kei was expecting a third speaker thing to come out of nowhere and just make his life that much worse. 

“ _ Before you go, I need you to know something _ .” That was Tadashi, and if Kei’s memory was trustworthy enough, this had only happened a few days ago, right before he’d left for training camp.

“ _ And that is?”  _ Kei asked. He sounded sleepy.

“ _ This whole review thing, it’s just so weird, you know?”  _ Tadashi giggled.  _ “People see tiny bits and pieces of our lives and think they know everything about us, how ridiculous is that?”  _ He let out a contented sigh.  _ “Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that no one’s opinions on all this are valid.” _

_ “But -”  _ Kei started.

“ _ The only person who has any authority on where you're going is you.”  _ Tadashi paused. “ _ Well, maybe a little me, but mostly you. If you want to change something, do it. If you think you're good enough where you are, stay there. No one else can tell you where you should be going, no matter how much they think they can.” _

_ “But what if they do?” _

_ “My mom always said to be someone the future you would be proud of _ ,” Tadashi said.  _ “I don't know how useful that is, but just think about it _ .”

Kei looked up past the speaker monster things and stared at the navy blue sky above his head. It swirled with dark purple clouds, and after a few seconds of staring, he saw the bright flashing lights of a plane flying by.

There was one thing he'd never noticed before. All these people were nobodies. He didn't know their names, who they were, anything. They were just words, words that didn't mean anything.

But the people who actually knew him, the people whose opinions actually mattered, had given him everything he ever needed. They knew who he was, what made him tick, and they knew things about him that none of the nobodies could dream of knowing. People like Akiteru, people like Tadashi, hell, even Hinata and Kageyama fit into this category with everyone else at Karasuno and probably everyone who knew and was watching all this happen back at Shiratorizawa. Kei felt stupid for not realizing it earlier: he had no reason for trying to get respect from people who would never give it to him when there were people right behind him who would give him that and more unconditionally.

And what Tadashi said made him realize that he'd never thought much about the future. Even though he'd signed up to do this whole superhero thing for the next thirty years, give or take, he'd never thought about where he'd be in ten or twenty. It had never come up. He’d just been too busy with the present.

But now that he had the chance, he couldn't stop thinking about it. This was his life already, and if the past few months indicated anything, that would only become more true as the years went by. He already didn't deserve this, what if he did something he regretted and had to live with it for the next thirty years?

He surprisingly didn't regret anything about this so far. He didn't regret saying yes when Tadashi asked him to adopt this weird lifestyle, he hadn't regretted it after falling on his face hundreds of times trying to fly, he hadn't regretted it after the hellish commute to and from jobs, just being able to do this made it all worth it. 

Was change in order? He didn't know. He liked where he was now. It worked for him. But maybe there was something else that worked better. Maybe that was right in front of him and he just hadn't been able to find it. 

But what if he failed again? What if this just made everything even worse and he just dug himself deeper into the hole? That was a legitimate possibility. 

“I just feel like he should be better than this.” Both the speakers blasted the single sentence at the same time, louder than ever. 

Strangely, it didn't phase Kei one bit.

“Fuck it,” he said to himself, “I  _ am  _ better than this.” Screw failure, he had to get better somehow.

And if he didn't change, nothing would.

The next second, everything went black.

* * *

 

Tadashi was breathing hard. He could barely feel his legs anymore, and he knew his powers would tap out before too long. He was already exhausted, how much longer could this go on? 

He needed to check on Kei, to see if he was still alive and to wake him up from the outside, but he never got the chance to. He had to keep fighting because right now it was just him. He was the only person standing in between this guy and whatever his ultimate goal was. And if he lost, he didn't know what would happen.

He gulped and pressed on, pushing himself up to his feet. 

“There you are,  Midori-kun!” The voice came from behind, taking him by surprise. The guy was in front of him a few seconds ago. Tadashi could have sworn he'd just seen him.

His thoughts were interrupted by a kick to the back that knocked him over again. Why didn't this guy just use his nightmare attack again? If he did that, he would have won. 

Maybe there were circumstances preventing that, and those circumstances were something for which Tadashi was extremely grateful. His back was sore now, just as sore as the rest of him, but that was definitely better than being stuck in REM.

“You put up much more of a fight than I expected you would.” The man’s voice was sinister, with a tinge of mockery. “I've gotta say, both of you are more than meets the eye, especially for kids your age.”

Tadashi wanted to turn around, he  _ needed  _ to turn around to know what was going on, but he couldn't move. He was frozen in place again, just like before. He had no way of predicting what was coming next, let alone fighting back. 

A crack of lightning lit up the sky behind him, reflecting in the windows of the buildings all around him. It was almost bright enough to blind him. A clap of thunder came almost immediately afterward, a menacing boom that Tadashi swore made the ground shake.

“Don't. Move.”

Those two words sent a chill down Tadashi’s spine more than anything else already had. The voice sounded airy and light, yet clear and punctuated. Every word was said with conviction, and every letter came out loud and clear, but it sounded strangely distant at the same time.

But even with all that, it was unmistakable.

“What the hell - “ The man looked at something behind Tadashi with something akin to pure horror on his face. “How can -”

“How can I be here?” Footsteps echoed from all the way across the street, and Tadashi wished he could turn around. He wished he could see. “I don’t know. But I’m sure as hell not complaining about it.”

Something sizzled and popped. Tadashi could feel the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. Whatever was happening, it was something big. 

Just as a gust of wind blew through his hair, he found himself able to turn around. For some reason, he wasn’t frozen anymore. He was still on his knees, and he only turned his head enough to see, but he could see more than enough.

Every step Kei took looked like gravity had a little less influence on it. He walked slowly but not tentatively, in a straight line forward. His eyes glowed bright gold in a way that almost made them sparkle, and combined with the scowl on his face, he looked terrifying in a strangely good kind of way. His hair constantly popped with sparks making it glow just as bright as his eyes, and his entire body seemed more outright electric than it had ever been before.

The first thought that popped into Tadashi’s head was, of course, that he looked beautiful. But beyond that, he didn't know what to think. He had no idea what was happening, should he be scared? How had Kei managed to get out of the dream on his own? 

Either way, Tadashi was glad to not have to do this alone.

“So you're back for round two,” the man said. “You could have just given up.” He ignored Tadashi entirely to focus on what Kei was doing. Good. Tadashi could probably do something with that.

“You say that like this is going to be an actual fight,” Kei replied with a smirk.

“You never seemed like the cocky type.”

“There's a stark difference between cockiness and certainty that I'll win.” Kei narrowed his eyes. “The latter is backed up by logic and strategy, both things I pride myself on, thank you very much.”

“You can just keep telling yourself that.” The man rolled up his sleeves.

“I'll do whatever it takes to make you believe it.” In the middle of everything, Kei somehow managed to catch Tadashi’s eye. Tadashi didn't know what it meant, but it was something.

Maybe he was volunteering to distract the guy so Tadashi could get a hit in. 

This was so  _ weird _ . Tadashi kind of liked it.

He got to his feet just as Kei shot the first bolt, the sizzling only getting louder. The man managed to dodge it, but Kei shot another one immediately afterward, hitting him in the gut. He didn't say a word the entire time, his eyes narrowed in concentration.

Tadashi had to find something to hit this guy with. Or at least something to keep him in one place. But whichever that was would entirely depend on what Kei’s plan was.

_ Hey, Tsukki, can you hear me? _ Tadashi thought, trying to direct his thoughts outward so Kei could hear them.

_ Yeah. _

_ Do you have a plan? _

_ It’s not much, but I have something _ . Kei paused.  _ I'll act as a distraction and wear this guy down. Once he's dazed enough, you can do whatever you can to immobilize him until people get here who can deal with this. _

_ Got it _ . Tadashi cut off the link between them, looking at the sides of the street to find something to use. He wished he had a rope, that would make all this a lot easier. But he didn’t,and he had to make do otherwise. What else was there? He couldn't just uproot a tree. 

Well, he could. He'd just have to deal with all the legal repercussions. And he didn't want to do that.

Wait. Who said he even needed anything? He could control  _ minds _ . And that only worked better when the subject was already brought down to begin with, which seemed like exactly the thing Kei was trying to do. 

This was going to be easy.

Tadashi turned around again and started running back, past the crowd that had gathered on the side of the street. Now that he knew this would be over quickly, he felt a lot more energized than he did a few minutes ago. A welcome change.

When he saw Kei again, he couldn’t stop himself from staring. And it wasn’t just because he looked really good like this, though that was true. Something about him seemed different, the way he was acting was something new that Tadashi had never seen from him before. He never seemed to stop, and he was obviously tiring himself out, but the attacks kept coming. Just when Tadashi thought they would end, they came even faster. The fire in Kei’s eyes was a far cry from the way he usually was, it even clashed with the way he was when he'd gotten here. 

“Whoa!” 

Tadashi turned around at the sound of the voice behind him, not expecting Hinata to touch down to the ground with a bewildered grin on his face.

“What are you doing here?” Tadashi asked as Hinata ran over to stand next to him.

“I thought you two needed some help.” Hinata sighed. “But I guess you don't need it anymore.”

“Not necessarily.” Tadashi frowned. “But since you're here...”

Hinata straightened up. “What should I do?”

“You have healing powers, right?”

“Yeah.” Hinata bobbed his head in a nod. “They're not that good, though.”

“What can you do with them?” Tadashi looked over at where Kei was still taking the man on. 

“Um...” Hinata scrunched his eyebrows up. “I think I can give people energy or something -”

“That's good enough.” It was actually just what Tadashi needed. “Something's happening to Tsukki and I have no idea what it is, but I think he'll need whatever you have.” The longer he lasted, the better. 

“Got it!” Hinata saluted before sprinting out into the fray. He interrupted the fight just to talk to Kei, which would have been a problem, but the man was pretty dazed already. They had at least a few seconds to talk it out. 

Hinata said something, accompanied by a lot of wild hand gestures. Kei’s eyes went wide for a second before he shook his head and said something else. Hinata looked almost sad, but he nodded. Kei said one more thing, getting even closer to Hinata to talk even quieter, and Hinata said one more thing before running over to Tadashi again just as the man came back to his senses.

The energy transfer never happened.

“What was that?” Tadashi asked.

Hinata didn't meet Tadashi’s eyes. “He said he didn't want to do it.”

“What?!” Was he  _ stupid _ ? Who would deny something like that? “Did he say why?”

Hinata gulped before looking right up into Tadashi’s eyes. “He said you needed it more than he did.”

With that, Hinata put his hands on Tadashi’s shoulders and closed his eyes. Tadashi could instantly feel his blood rushing faster, his heart beating louder, his entire body buzzing. He felt rejuvenated, more awake than he'd been all day. 

But it didn't seem worth it right now.

“Come on, we have to do what we can.” He narrowed his eyes, running across the street as soon as he had the thought.

But the battle was already over. It could be argued that it was over before it even began.

Kei put both his hands together, palms out, and closed one eye as he faced right at the man’s chest. The man’s eyes went wide in the same fear he'd tried to impose on both of them, but Kei wasn't taking any of that. He closed the other eye as even more of his hair sparked up, generating a huge ball of electricity right in front of his hands. Everything was still for a second.

And then, he shot.

The ball hit the man square in the chest, and he flew back before landing right on his back on the ground. He stopped moving.

Tadashi ran over to him, knowing exactly what he needed to do.

“Who's the scaredy-cat now?” He whispered.

The man didn't move, he didn't do anything, but somehow, he looked even more scared than before. Tadashi almost felt sorry for him.

“Just  _ wait here until the police get here _ ,” he said, weaving his voice in just the right way to make the man listen to him.

The man’s eyes turned from dark brown to dark red as he nodded. He didn't show any sign of interest in getting up.

“What the hell did you do?” 

Tadashi turned around to see Hinata yelling at Kei for whatever reason. Kei looked just as nonchalant as usual.

“I said I don't know,” Kei answered. 

“But -”

“It just happened, I-” Kei stopped short when he met Tadashi’s eyes. “I...”

Tadashi reached out to grab Kei’s hands, just to reassure himself, but Kei pulled back at the last minute. “What -”

“Don't touch me right now.” Kei rushed his words to the point where Tadashi could barely tell them apart. “I don't know what's happening and I think touching me when I'm like this could kill you.”

Tadashi reflexively took a tiny step back, as much as he didn't want to. “Are you okay?”

Kei paused for too long before he nodded. “...Yes.”

“You took an awful long time to answer that.”

“How am I supposed to know for sure?”

Tadashi frowned. “Okay, fine. Then why did you not let Hinata give you the boost?”

Hinata’s face went just as pale as Kei’s did. There was something they didn't want Tadashi to know, and he was determined to find out what it was.

“You said I needed it more than you did, why?” He continued, taking a step closer so he and Kei barely had any distance separating them at all. He could feel the static coming from Kei’s hair, and he could clearly see the way his eyes glowed brighter than ever. Why hadn't he gone back to normal yet? The job was over.

He needed answers. Some of those answers were things no one knew, but he had to take control of the situation where he could.

Kei let out a dry, humorless chuckle. “Did you really think this would last?”

He trailed off just as his eyes fluttered shut and he fell forward into Tadashi’s arms. His hair fell flat again, and the static finally died down.

“Hey.” Tadashi felt his heart stop, the traditional job high shutting down in a second. “Come on, wake up.”

Nothing.

“Tsukki, please.” Tadashi lightly shook Kei’s shoulders, trying as hard as he could to push down every bit of panic he felt. 

Kei knew. He knew this would happen, Tadashi was sure of it.

“ _ Wake up _ .” Tadashi hated using his powers on Kei in general, and this felt so much worse, but he didn't have any other options. “You have to wake up, just do it for me, okay?”

Nothing even close to a response. If anything, Kei only got heavier.

“Please...” Tadashi could barely breathe now. What was he supposed to do? 

“...Yamaguchi?”

Hinata put his hand on Tadashi’s shoulder just as Tadashi turned his head around.

“Is there anything I can help you with?” He asked.

“There always is.” Tadashi frowned. “Just give me a minute.” 

Hinata nodded.

Tadashi’s breath caught in his throats multiple times as he got down to his knees, laying Kei’s unconscious body down on the ground in front of him. Somehow, that was more painful than everything else that had already happened tonight.

“Hold on, I can -”

Before Hinata could finish his sentence or even get all the way to his knees, Tadashi started sobbing into his chest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this entire fic in like February and I feel weirdly disconnected from it now


	11. Chapter 11

Kei’s ears were ringing when he opened his eyes. His head throbbed, only made worse by the bright sunlight shining through the window right at him. His entire body felt heavy, and he didn’t want to move.

He didn’t know where he was. It felt familiar, but he couldn’t place it. His memory was hazy, just as hazy as the rest of his mind right now. He hated it.

He closed his eyes again, hoping he could get back to sleep. He couldn’t, not with the sun beating down on his eyelids like this, but he was going to try.

As soon as he closed his eyes, blurs of half-memories flashed in his head, too many at a time to count but all too small to make anything out of. They were all things like single steps and simple hand movements and smiles and scowls and flashes of light, bolts of lightning, -

“Hey, I’m back.”

As tempted as Kei was to wake up again at that, he didn’t. His eyes were already weighted shut again.

“I brought some food up, you’d better wake up if you want any of it.”

That was just as tempting, if not more, but Kei didn’t budge. It was too much effort.

The cold touch of a wet washcloth to his forehead finally got him to open his eyes again. He cracked them open slowly, vision adjusting to the light once again.

Tadashi was standing there, wearing a simple grey t-shirt. Some of his hair was pinned back from his face, bringing out his eyes that much more in the sun. He only frowned for a split-second before it melted into a smile.

“Was it me mentioning food that woke you up?” He asked.

“No, it was the washcloth,” Kei replied. What happened to his voice? He could barely get a whisper out.  

“Ah.” Tadashi nodded. “I brought you some water if you want it –“

“I’ll have it later.”

“Got it.”

“Could you… tell me where I am?” Kei asked. He was so close, but he still didn’t know. It felt stupid.

“You’re in my room, and it’s 3:47 PM on Saturday.” Tadashi giggled. “You sound really tired.”

“Yeah, no shit,” Kei grumbled. “How are you so perky?”

“It hasn't been this sunny in months.” Tadashi looked out the window. “I wish I could get outside.”

“Why can't you?”

“I'm taking care of  _ you _ , silly.” Tadashi’s smile got a little sadder right then. “You look so...”

“Weak? Exhausted?” Kei was just trying to guess. He had no idea what was going through Tadashi’s mind.

“I was going to say small.”

“Don't you  _ dare _ .”

Tadashi grinned. “You look adorable when you're asleep in a blanket burrito.”

“Shut  _ up _ -”

“Not a chance.”

Kei groaned. 

“Well, I hope you slept well.” His voice instantly got quieter. “You were unconscious for just over nineteen hours. I didn’t know what to do.”

“Sorry –“

“It doesn’t matter, you’re okay now.” Tadashi let out a quick breath. 

Everything was silent for a second.

“You’re okay,” Tadashi repeated, quieter this time.

Kei felt himself being lifted up into a sitting position before Tadashi engulfed him in a hug almost tight enough to suffocate him. But as painful as it was, it was nice.

“I was so worried!” Tadashi was barely intelligible, his voice muffled by the fabric of Kei’s shirt. “I thought you were going to die out there!”

“I’m fine, really, can you please let go of me now?”

“Oh, crap, sorry!” Tadashi stood up again as Kei lay back down. “Did you get hurt?”

“I don’t think so.” Kei frowned. “I just don’t remember anything from last night.”

“Nothing?” Tadashi’s eyes went wide.

“Well, I remember some things.” Kei tried to rack his brain for examples, which gave him a headache before too long. “I remember watching the livestream on Goshiki’s computer, running back up to my room to change – oh,  _ god _ , Tendou Satori knows who I am –“

“We can worry about that part of it later, I can ask Hinata for more details.” Tadashi let out a breath. “Do you remember anything after you got to the job?”

In all honesty, Kei wasn’t sure he did. “Just random things. Individual movements, facial expressions, things like that. Nothing I can make any sense out of.”

“So it’s just a blur from when you got there until now?”

“Pretty much.” Kei narrowed his eyes. “You were there, why do you want to know?”

“Things happened that I can’t explain, you might be the only one who can.”

What was that supposed to mean?

Tadashi didn’t address it. “I can go over everything that happened, that might jog your memory.”

“Fine, if you tell me why you’re probing me like this.”

“You’ll know, just trust me.”

“But why aren’t you telling me now?”

Tadashi looked down at the ground. “Last night was weird and your memory might be the missing piece we need to figure everything out.”

“That sounds creepy.”

“I know, just roll with it.” Tadashi smiled, sitting down in a desk chair. “So I don’t know exactly when you got there, but I think you showed up while I was passed out.”

Kei blinked. “That’s a weird trend.”

“What, people passing out in the middle of jobs?” Tadashi shrugged. “It happens. And like I said, last night was weird.”

“I don’t even remember half of it and I  _ know _ it was weird.”

“Right?” Tadashi leaned back in the chair, but he still seemed tense for some reason. “Anyway, after I woke up again, you ran off to try and fight on your own, there was some mind-control tug-of-war -”

“Damn it, I remember that now -” Kei grimaced as the memories came rushing to the front of his head. As if he didn’t have enough of a headache already.

“Oh my god, are you okay?” Tadashi instantly shot up to his feet, eyes full of worry. 

Kei narrowed his eyes and slowly nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Are you sure? You're really pale.” Tadashi frowned. “You know what, never mind, trying to draw everything out of you like this was a bad idea. You don't have to talk about it if it hurts or anything -”

“If I can understand everything better when it's over, it's worth it,” Kei said. “Rip the band-aid off and do it.”

Tadashi looked like he was about to protest but he didn't. “What do you remember from after that?”

“Still nothing.” Well, that wasn't entirely true. He could remember tiny things that didn't have any meaning whatsoever. Essentially nothing.

Tadashi pouted in thought. “I have an idea. You might not like it.”

Kei let out a breath. “That doesn't matter.”

“Fine.” Tadashi closed his eyes for a few seconds, hair floating around his head before gravity took its toll on it again and he opened his eyes. “Sorry.”

“For what?”

Tadashi looked right into Kei’s eyes just as his own began to glow and unfocus. “ _ Tell me everything you remember after you passed out.”  _

Kei didn't have anything to spill, but he was going to spill it anyway. He could find something, right? It was definitely the mind control talking, but he wanted to say everything. “I was in the middle of a street.” Was he even in the middle of a street? The blurry memory he did have of the dream said yes, but he had no idea. “I think I was alone.” The more he talked about it, the more it started to come back. Perfect. “There were these speaker things and they were robots or something.” Was this what being drunk sounded like? It was a perfect match to everything he'd ever seen on TV, at the very least. “They were just blaring everything that people had been saying for the past few months. It wasn't anything new. I tried dealing with them, but my powers didn't work and I was just kind of waiting to die until some flashbacks happened and -”

_ Oh _ .

“And?”

Kei let out a breath. “I figured it out.”

“Figured what out?” Tadashi asked excitedly. 

“Myself.” Kei paused. “Well, not entirely, but I know a lot more now.”

“So what happened to get you from sentient speaker dream to enlightenment?” Tadashi chuckled. “That seems like a big jump.”

“I had to confront the whole review thing head-on without any distractions. That's what changed everything.” Kei was rambling more than he had in years, but he couldn't stop himself.

“But the dreams are supposed to represent whatever you're afraid of, though.” Tadashi frowned. “How does that fit in?”

“I've always been afraid of failure.” Kei shrugged. “I've just been denying it just as long, and up until now it's worked.” He blinked. “That whole thing just made me realize that if I didn't change how I thought about it, I'd just deny everything until it ate me alive. So I guess it was just supposed to be a paradigm shift. And -”

“Tell me the rest later, there's time.” Tadashi pulled his phone out of his back pocket. “Do you remember anything that happened after you woke up again?”

Kei shook his head. That was still completely blank.

Tadashi let out a low whistle. “Oh, boy.”

“That is the weirdest thing you possibly could have said.”

Tadashi frowned. “I don't know how to put it. You'll put it together, but until then -”

“Okay, just show me whatever you're going to show me.” What was going on?

“All right.” Tadashi turned on the phone and tapped a few things before handing the phone to Kei. “Look at these.”

Kei nodded as he took the phone, looking at the picture that was on the screen. It was blurry and the lighting was horrible, but Kei could recognize his hair and his jacket if nothing else. His back was to the camera, and he couldn't see what he was doing. That didn't help him all that much.

He swiped to the next picture, and -

Oh, shit.

There he was, red jacket and all, but he looked different. He was  _ glowing _ . His eyes were glowing bright gold, his hair was the same way, there was almost a halo of light all around him. And it was more than just a glow, too. He wasn't just glowing, he was electrified. 

The picture, unlike the last one, was perfectly in focus. He wasn't looking at the camera, but everything was perfectly visible. He was smirking at whoever he was looking at, and he looked like he was having more fun than he’d had in years. It was probably professionally done.

“Damn, I look good,” he whispered to himself.

Tadashi couldn't hold his laughter in any longer. 

“What?” Kei frowned. “I do.”

“You do!” Tadashi’s giggling was almost infectious. “I just didn't think you'd admit it.”

“I'm not entirely lucid right now, of course I would.” 

“You're surprisingly self aware, in that case.” Tadashi sucked in a sharp breath, regaining his composure again. “Do you remember anything more?”

“A little.” It was still hard to believe that was him, but Kei at least remembered walking around in that state, whatever it was. He had a few scattered images of himself talking to Hinata, of all people- “Wait, was Hinata there?”

“Yeah.” Tadashi nodded. “He showed up right when you woke up.” 

“Okay.” 

“So you don't remember anything from the very end.”

“Nothing.”

Tadashi looked down at his hands. “Well, after it was all over, I started asking you things because I had no idea what happened. And you said one of the coolest things you've said in your entire life and -”

“‘Did you really think this would last’”. The words come out or Kei’s mouth before he knew what they were. He had no idea where they came from, but for some reason, he remembered them. 

And he suddenly remembered what came next. 

A laugh that hurt his chest. His vision getting blurry. His eyes slowly slipping shut as he couldn't support himself with his own two feet because he was that -

“What happened to me?” He asked. Regaining his memory just left him with more questions than answers.

“Everything points to power exhaustion.” Tadashi’s voice was deathly quiet, and Kei knew exactly why. He'd been in Tadashi’s place far too many times, but this seemed worse than all of them.

“Isn't that not supposed to happen?”

“It's definitely not supposed to happen.” Every bit of the carefree attitude Tadashi had before had faded entirely. “It's supposed to be impossible.”

“And what does that mean for me?” 

“I have no idea.” Tadashi anxiously fiddled with the phone in his hands. “You're doing the same thing I always do when I come out of it, so you're probably going to be fine, but -”

“I'm not you.”

“Exactly,” Tadashi said. “I'm used to this, more or less. You're not. I don't know what that means, but it's going to be different in some way.”

For a second, Kei worried at the possibilities. What if he was forced to stop this because he couldn't keep himself in check? That would be the worst mistake of his life, and he'd have to live with it until the day he died.

“But don't worry about it now.” Tadashi put the phone back on the desk. “It probably just means you'll need more recovery time than I do.” He gave Kei an almost threatening half-glare. “In any case, you're not going on any jobs for a week. I'm taking Kageyama and you're resting up as much as you can.”

“A whole  _ week _ ?” Kei was surprised that he felt so opposed to it. Since when did he care so much about this? He actually wanted to be there, he couldn't remember that happening before.

“It’s just to be safe.” Tadashi smiled, just as genuine as always. “You'll be fine, I'm sure.”

Something about this still seemed wrong, though. There were still questions that didn't have answers.

“Wait.”

Tadashi blinked. “What is it?”

“How did I get here?”

“Hinata and I brought you last night,” Tadashi replied.

Kei nodded. That made sense. “And aren't you supposed to be at practice right now?”

Tadashi laughed. “Do you have to rat me out like that?”

“I'm just curious.”

“Oh.” Tadashi frowned. “I stopped by Shiratorizawa on the way back for damage control and made everyone who didn't already know think that you'd just gone home sick. Hinata gave me your stuff, so I had to take  _ that  _ back here, too. When I woke up this morning, I just didn't feel like I could go, so I didn't. Everyone was fine with it.”

“Mm.” Of course everyone was fine with it. Everyone probably knew every detail about what happened, that was just how they were. They cared a whole damn lot.

“Anyway.” Tadashi smiled again. “You were going to say something about the speaker dream, right?”

“It was existential as hell.”

“Yeah, I know that, what happened?”

Kei let out a breath. Talking this much was already killing his throat, but he knew he was just going to get a drink of water, get back home, and go back to sleep as soon as this was over, so who cared? Tadashi wanted to know. “Pretty much just a lot of thinking. About what I wanted, who I wanted to be, all that.”

“Really?”

“Like I said, existential as hell.” Kei paused. “Anyway, I figured out that the whole review thing wasn't worth thinking about and everything I would have gotten from that I can already get from people who know me.”

“Good for you.” Tadashi brought his voice down a little. “Did you think about the second part?”

“A little, why?”

“I just want to know what to expect.” Tadashi’s smile morphed into a grin. “We're stuck together for a while, after all.”

“Oh.” Kei blinked. Why was he so eager to say everything? That had never happened before. “Well, for one thing, I still haven't settled into this.”

“Tsukki, it’s been five years!”

“I know it's been five years, it’s still weird.” Kei frowned. “I think you might forget that I was born completely normal and spent the first eleven years of my life thinking that I was going to end up just like everyone else.”

“If you're trying to tell me that I had an unorthodox childhood, I already know that.” Tadashi giggled. “Before I told you, I had to make sure I wouldn't start flying around the house whenever you came over.”

“I had no idea.” Kei could still remember the way his eyes practically popped out of his head when Tadashi told him everything. And that was before Tadashi had asked him the one question that changed the course of his entire life. 

“Really?”

Kei shook his head. Tadashi’s entire family was exceptionally good at hiding the family secret, and Kei liked to think that now that he knew, he was just as good, but he'd accidentally given that information out to four different people in the past week.

“Huh.”

“You know...” Kei started. He needed to say this sooner or later, Tadashi needed to know, the only problem was how to say it. “I never thought I deserved this.”

“What?” Tadashi’s eyebrows rose in surprise. 

“Back when this first started, I couldn't stop asking myself ‘why me’ because I didn't think I was cut out for this. That never really went away. But -” Kei shrugged. “Somewhere down the line, I want to be able to say that I... grew into it, I guess.”

“Hate to break it to you, but you already have,” Tadashi said. 

“Have not.”

“Really, listen to me for a sec.” Tadashi closed his eyes for a second and took a deep breath before he opened them again. “People have misconceptions about this, you know that. They have an image of what they think this is like, but ninety-nine percent of the time, that's completely wrong. If people knew what really happened, I doubt many of them would still want it.” 

“Hypocrites,” Kei muttered.

“Right?” Tadashi laughed. “But, anyway. You've seen the fine print, you’ve had enough time to know this entire thing isn’t as fun as you thought it would be, and you're still here. The world’s thrown everything it possibly can at you, and you haven't shown a single sign of giving up.” He brought his voice down again, eyes bright. “If anything, that only makes you the exact person this job needs.”

Kei narrowed his eyes. “I'm here because I said I would be, I'm not about to go around breaking promises because things changed on me.”

“Yeah, but if that was the case, you wouldn't be giving as much now as you were a few months ago.” Tadashi crossed his arms with a smile. “If last night told me anything, it's that you're doing exactly the opposite.”

“But how am I ‘the exact person this job needs’?” Kei asked. “I'm not exactly morally sound one hundred percent of the time, plenty of people are better at that -”

“This doesn't have anything to do with who's the ‘better person’ and everything to do with how I trust you more than anyone else I possibly could have picked.” Tadashi swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood up. “ _ That's  _ how.”

He took three steps toward Kei’s end of the bed and hugged him without saying anything else. The hug wasn't tight, probably for the best since Kei didn't want to get crushed like last time if he could help it, but it was good. Really good.

“Hey, Tsukki?” Tadashi’s voice was muffled by Kei’s shoulder, but Kei could still make it out well enough.

“Yeah?”

“Do you... like this?”

“Does it look like I don't?”

Tadashi giggled. “Sometimes.”

“Hm.” Kei paused. He was surprised it wasn't obvious, even to the one person who knew pretty much everything about him. That may have been the entire point. He was weird like that. “Do you still want an answer?”

“Yeah -” Tadashi quickly leaned back, perched on the edge of the bed, a concerned look in his eyes. “Don't think too hard about it, though, from personal experience that just makes the headache worse.”

“I won't have to.” Kei let out a quick breath. He knew he was going to say something extremely sappy very soon, his judgment was just lowered enough. “When you asked Hinata and Kageyama to do backup, Hinata called this the opportunity of a lifetime, and I'm never going to say this ever again if I can help it, but he's right.” There it was.

“So you do like it.”

“I'm not sure what I'd be doing without it.”

Tadashi laughed. “I told you you’ve already grown into it!” 

Kei shrugged. “Maybe I have.”

“Good. It suits you.”

Kei blinked in confusion. “It does not.”

“Please.” Tadashi grinned. “If there's anything I got out of last night, it's that you're even more heroic than  _ I  _ realized, and I've been giving you the benefit of the doubt since the very beginning.”

Blood rushed right to Kei’s face. “Could you do me a favor and not call me that ever again?”

Tadashi shrugged. “Not if it's true.”

“Okay, fine.” Kei frowned. “Let's say you're right. What kind of hero would I even be?”

“Well.” Tadashi leaned in a little closer. “The obvious answer would be ‘mine’, wouldn't it?”

He cupped Kei’s cheek in one hand and pressed their lips together, soft as the hug earlier. Yet Kei’s knee-jerk reaction was to freeze up and go stiff. He didn't have any way of predicting  _ this _ , did Tadashi want to kill him? 

But eventually, the initial shock faded, like it always did. Kei let his eyes slip shut and when Tadashi wrapped one arm around his shoulder, he melted into the touch. One of his hands somehow found its way to the back of Tadashi’s head, the other on his shoulder, and he was just fine staying here forever. Or at least close to it. It was calm and quiet, but his heart was racing just a little faster than it should have been. The only thing he could feel was a weird state of bliss scratching at the very back of his head, but even that wasn't much. His mind was almost completely blank.

It was a nice feeling.

He was still a little dazed when he eventually pulled away, not sure if it was because of what had just happened or the sorry state he was in in general, but either way, he was a lot weaker than he thought he would be. 

Huh.

“Sorry, was I too -” Tadashi started.

“Don't apologize for that, it was good.”

“Glad you think so.” Tadashi giggled. “You look really worn out.”

“You wouldn't be wrong.” Kei shrugged. “It was still worth it.”

“Good.” Tadashi smiled. 

For some reason, Kei felt himself wanting to smile, too, weird since it was something he  _ never did _ . He didn't know why; the feeling had sort of just been there since he'd woken up and was just coming to the forefront now. He was sure it was justified somehow, everything always was, but he had no idea as to what that somehow was. Maybe Tadashi’s happiness was just that contagious.

“You seem happy.”

Kei looked up. “And?”

Tadashi ever so slightly pushed Kei over and sat down on the bed next to him, casually lacing their fingers together. “It's a good look.”

“Oh.”

“Is it anything in particular?”

Kei shrugged. “I'm sure it is -” 

It hit him right at that moment what it was, when he was still reeling from the kiss and when Tadashi was squeezing his right hand just tight enough to not cut off his circulation. He was surprised he didn't see it earlier.

It wasn't just last night that had put him in this high; it was the job itself. Last night had just made him notice it. It was exciting, to be sure - the past nine months had been a whirlwind unlike anything he'd ever been through before - but more than that, it was interesting. He was never bored on jobs, even if they were generic and easy, just because they still felt new to him. Maybe it was him growing up normal and not believing he'd amount to much for most of elementary school, but despite the way most people thought he was, he always thought this was special.

Which brought up another thing. When no one - well, almost no one - knew who he was, he could be whoever the fuck he wanted to be. He didn't have to do anything or not do anything just because it wasn't something people thought he would do. He didn't have to hold back if he didn't want to. He could just be who he was and make his own unfiltered decisions without having to answer to anyone else. It was liberating.

And last night had proved that beyond a shadow of a doubt. He didn't have to think about what he was doing or what people would think, he just did it. His memory was still hazy, but he remembered feeling more alive than he ever had before.

This whole thing had given him so much more than he'd put into it. It gave him fame and good reasons to skip practice, yes, but it also gave him a killer stress reliever. It gave him an outlet from the bullshit of day-to-day life. It gave him the opportunity to find himself. And weekly dates and constant love and support weren't bad, either.

Somehow, a combination of those made him at least a little happy.

“Wait, I have something to show you!” Tadashi pulled his phone out of his pocket and opened a web page, holding the phone so both he and Kei could see it.

“What is it?” Kei probably should have put his glasses on at some point, but he didn't, so now he was here, unable to read whatever Tadashi was so excited about showing him.

“Take it, you should read it.” Tadashi held the phone right up to Kei’s face until Kei took it himself. 

Kei narrowed his eyes until he was able to make out the headline. “‘Back in Black: MD’s Aka Better Than Ever’-”

Oh. That was nice.

“You did it!” Tadashi beamed, squeezing Kei’s hand even tighter.

Kei just blinked, looking through the article again. How could that happen so quickly?

“You okay?”

Kei nodded. “I'm fine. I just don't know how this  _ happened _ .”

“You know how.”

“I... don't?”

“Oh.” Tadashi leaned his head on Kei’s shoulder. “Well, considering everything you've been doing lately, it was just a matter of time.” He chuckled. “I don't know why you're so surprised, last night was incredible.” He paused. “Scary, but incredible.”

“Was it really?”

“Yeah.” Tadashi let out a breath. “You're just full of surprises.”

Kei frowned. “I'm really not.”

“Do you know how many times you've risked your life for someone else’s in the past month?” Tadashi asked.

“I've been doing that the whole time.”

“Not like this,” Tadashi said. “You've never been as selfless about it before.”

“I just want to do what's right -”

“The two overlap a lot, get used to it.” 

“Damn.”

Tadashi giggled, his hair tickling Kei’s neck. “I love you, valiant hero.”

Kei’s cheeks flushed instantly. “ _ Please  _ don't call me that.”

“I'm only going to do it until you believe it.” 

Kei sighed, knowing there was no way he was getting out of this one. “Fine.” He resigned himself right then and there to having valiant hero tacked on to everything for at least the next year. 

But definitely not the next thirty.

It suddenly sank in that this was his life, just as much as his completely ordinary high school life was. The two were two sides of the same coin. And yet, this was the one that would stay steady. He'd graduate eventually, he'd get in and out of college, he'd get a job or seven, but this would always be here. 

And the person who stood at the intersection between the two halves of his life would be, too.

“...I love you, too.”A

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> whoops this is kinda messy sorry lol
> 
> comments/kudos always appreciated!!


	12. Chapter 12

“The next stop is Sendai Station. Next stop, Sendai.”

Kei barely heard the announcement over his music, but he doubted he needed to. He'd been paying attention to all the announcements that came before, and he'd been on this train enough times to memorize the three or so stops before Sendai.    


He looked out the window for the first time in an hour - he'd spent most of the train ride texting people, reading a book, and sleeping - and was pleasantly surprised to see it wasn't raining anymore. It was still gray and dark and depressing, but that was to be expected considering it was December.   


It was a little disappointing considering it was this gloomy on Christmas Eve, but whatever. Hopefully this would be the year the Christmas spirit actually came through for once in his life.   


The city lights shone through the darkness, getting closer and brighter with every passing second. Up on a track above the suburban streets, Kei could see tiny houses and small apartment buildings down below, with the occasional car driving by. Hills in the distance were covered in green forests with power lines stretching between them.    


The scenery only made him more glad to be back.   


He’d spent most of the past four-and-a-half years in college in Tokyo, only coming home for summer, winter, and maybe spring break if he was lucky. He'd gotten a job with Team Tokyo - when Bokuto quit to make room for everything in his pro-volleyball-player life, Akaashi was glad to take on more help - to keep up the hero business until he could pick it up full-time again, but that wasn't enough to satisfy him. Three jobs a year when he did get a chance to go home weren't anything compared to the forty a year back in high school.   


And to make matters worse, he had to stick around after graduation for the rest of the year. Just getting out today was a lucky break.   


He didn't hate that, per se. Akaashi and Kenma were both no problem to work with, and as annoying as he was, Kuroo was a nice person. And since Tokyo was ridiculously busy, their backups -  Lev and Yaku, weirdly enough - were around just as much, and they weren't bad, either. Kei had met with Akaashi and Yaku at assorted coffee shops at least once a week practically the whole time. But Kei just wanted to get back. For good.   


And now, at twenty-three, he finally was.   


He told everyone - except his brother and Yachi - that he'd be back on the 28th, purely to surprise Tadashi by showing up at his apartment tonight. Like an early Christmas present. He was going to get there at six, meet up with Akiteru and his family for dinner - it was still hard for Kei to believe that he was actually an uncle now, even though his niece was almost four - and then get across the city to the apartment as late as he could without being a total asshole.   


He may or may not have been looking forward to that most of all.    


The train started to slow down as it pulled into the station. People started standing up, grabbing their belongings from the overhead compartments, and Kei did the same. For a move like this, he didn’t have a lot with him. He just brought a duffel bag and a large suitcase, both of which were full to the brim and ridiculously heavy, but it was only two bags.    


He was the third person to stand in front of the door at the back of his car, behind two middle-aged businessmen rolling small suitcases behind them. He stood out like a sore thumb with his huge bags and the down coat he was wearing to protect himself from the cold outside, but whatever. He’d be out of here soon enough.   


When the train stopped and people started filing out, Kei was surprised at how hot it was. It must have been because of all the people, and he should have predicted that, but he didn’t. Now he’d just have to tough it out and burn for a few minutes until he got to the next train that would take him to Akiteru’s house. He knew his way around the station well enough, it wouldn’t be that bad.   


Of course, as soon as he thought that, he’d damned himself to it in fact being that bad.   


The rumbling of footsteps started low, and Kei felt it more than he heard it. He thought it was nothing at first, just people running to make the train before it pulled away again. That was normal.   


But why should anything in his life be normal?   


There was a whoosh of air above him before something came down right on top of him. It looked like a net, the edge lined with some pink substance. When he tried to shrug it off, it just stuck to the ground, keeping him right where he was. There was nothing he could do without revealing who he was, which had too many problems to count.   


At least his bags were trapped under here with him.   


“Aw, you look so disappointed!”    


Kei looked up to see a girl, no more than nineteen, walking toward him with a dark purple cape on her shoulders and a silver crown on her head. She had a haughty grin on her face, leaning down close to him once she got close enough.   


“The Miyagi Duo’s caught up with something across town, you know,” She said. “You’d be lucky if anyone even tries to save you.”   


That was cliché as hell.   


“I can wait.” Kei shrugged. Even when couldn’t do anything to fight back, he still didn’t take her seriously. What did she even want? At this point, it just seemed like she got him because he wasn’t running away.   


She just laughed. “How old are you, twenty-five? You need some excitement in your life, don’t sound so bored!”   


"I’m twenty-three, and I get enough excitement in my life already, thank you very much.” Kei sat down and leaned against his suitcase. If he was going to be here for a while, he might as well get comfortable.   


“You’re a shit hostage."

“Then maybe you shouldn’t have bothered.” Kei smirked. “You don’t even have any legitimate threats for me, do you?” He would have scoffed and added “amateur” onto the end, but that would have given himself away. This was fine.   


“Ugh, whatever!” The girl huffed, turning around to face someone Kei couldn’t see. “Can someone keep an eye on this guy until we need to use him? I can’t stand him.”

What would they  _ use _ him for?   


She walked away and was replaced a few seconds later by two big and burly men who didn’t look Kei in the eye. All the better.   


He took his phone out of his pocket and sent a text to his brother, saying he’d be a little later than expected. He didn’t give any details.   


Crap, what if Tadashi showed up?    


Hopefully it would be Hinata, because even though he was Hinata, he could keep all this a secret from Tadashi. Kei would have to explain his entire stupid plan and get laughed at in the process, but Tadashi wouldn’t know. It would be even easier if it was Kageyama, since he was so dense, but he was busy; he would get back from Kyoto or wherever he was just close enough to New Year’s so no one got pissed at him. An encounter with Hinata was much more likely.   


But of course, if Tadashi himself showed up, he would definitely know. Which would ruin everything. And Kei couldn’t do anything about it.   


Great. He’d been here for less than five minutes and everything already had a fifty percent chance of being ruined.   


As much as he didn’t want Tadashi to show up, Kei couldn’t help but ask himself: Why did anyone even try? Tadashi was always a natural at this whole superhero thing, and now jobs never took as long as they used to. It was over as soon as he got the chance to look into someone’s eyes the right way.    


There was a part of Kei that hoped today would go the same way. A very small part, but a part nonetheless.   


His thoughts were interrupted by a grunt from one of the bodyguards as he fell to the ground. The other one soon did the same, leaving Kei entirely unguarded.    


“Sorry for crashing your party!”

Shit, that was definitely Tadashi. He sounded like he was behind Kei a ways, but he was still on the platform, and he was here. So much for trying to keep it a secret.   


“How did you get here so fast?” The girl asked, fists clenched at her sides.   


Yeah, how  _ did _ he get here so fast? He was supposedly across the city from here, that isn’t an easy distance to travel in a short amount of time, flying or not.   


Tadashi chuckled. “I guess I was just lucky.” The sudden wind would have drowned out his voice if he hadn’t raised it. “We all know how bad traffic is right now!”

That answered absolutely zero questions when he could fly and thus didn’t have to deal with traffic ever, but whatever. Coming up with flashy one-liners wasn’t a part of the job description.    


“Shit.”   


Something changed in Tadashi’s voice. Kei didn’t know what it was, but it sounded a lot more apprehensive now.   


“Hey, Hitoka?” Tadashi probably had his phone up to his ear, just like always. Truly the pinnacle of high-tech. 

“They’ve taken a hostage, I’ll try to take care of it but be prepared to send –“ He paused. “Why are you laughing?”    


To be fair, Kei would have laughed, too.   


Tadashi huffed as footsteps started getting closer to Kei from behind. This was it.   


“Hey, uh…” Tadashi was definitely talking to him now, although it was pretty funny that he didn’t recognize Kei from behind. He always stuttered a lot whenever he had to talk to members of the general public, even after six -and-some years of doing this. “Don’t freak out, you’re going to be o-“    


If he didn’t know before, he definitely knew now.

“- _ Kei _ ?”

“You know, I would have been really disappointed if you didn’t make that pun.” Kei finally turned around with a well-timed smirk, but of course, nothing could have prepared him for seeing Tadashi in person again after the better part of a year. “When did you cut your hair?”   


“Yesterday.” Tadashi frowned. “What are you doing here, you said you wouldn’t be back until the 28th!”   


“I was going to surprise you by showing up early, but then this happened and –“ Kei rolled his eyes with an exasperated sigh. “Merry fucking Christmas.”   


Tadashi giggled. “Same to you.” He looked up at the girl, still a long way down the platform and getting farther away by the second. “I’m only going to get you out of there if you help me with this.”

“Deal.”

Tadashi grinned, pulling something out of his pocket that turned out to be a Swiss army knife. He cut the net in a few spots and made a hold more than big enough for Kei to crawl through. “Lockers are downstairs.”

“I know.” Kei stuck his legs through the hole first before crawling out entirely, dragging his bags out with him. He’d been here more than enough times to know exactly where the lockers were, though he’d never used them in a situation like this. He’d mostly just used them to store his stuff somewhere while he went to lunch on his way in or out. 

This was better.

He weaved through the crowds of people down the stairs to the entrance, finding a row of lockers just the right size for both of his bags. He had to go down the row a little to find one that was unlocked, but he put some change in the machine and stuck everything in there. 

There was still the matter of what to do with his uniform, though. He dug it out of his duffel and realized he had no idea where to put his change of clothes until then.

Fuck it, he’d figure that out eventually.

He ducked into the first bathroom he saw and changed quickly, leaving the jacket and mask off for now. That would give him away before he wanted to be given away. He quickly went back to the lockers and stuffed his other clothes in, knowing he could organize everything in his bags later. He took the least crowded route to the platform, giving the guy at the gate a shrug as he got right through, holding the mask up as if to explain everything. The guy’s eyes bugged out, but he nodded knowingly as Kei made his way up the stairs, putting the mask and the jacket on just as he reached the platform.

“You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me!”

The girl must have seen him then.

“Took you long enough!” Tadashi shouted. 

The crowd screamed. Tadashi just laughed more.

“Do you have any idea what these people can do?” Kei asked. 

“You were there longer than I was.” Tadashi brought his voice down for that line before he brought it right back up again. “There’s only one way to find out.”

Kei nodded, making his way down the platform. The girl was protected by her line of bodyguards, but a couple shocks took them out easily. The girl was carrying something that looked a little like a gun but wasn’t one. There was something disc-shaped at the end. 

Kei would find out what that was soon enough.

“You know,” the girl said, “I’m actually glad you’ve gotten this close.”

That wasn’t good.

The girl held the gun-thing up, revealing a swirly pattern on the disc. It started to spin, slowly at first.

Oh.

“Get out of the way!” Tadashi nearly knocked Kei over from behind.

“I know what I’m doing.” Kei smirked.

“Exactly what I want you to do, right?” The girl asked, a sinister glint in her eye.

Kei blinked. With all the training he’d had in college - mostly up against Kenma, but Kenma was stronger at the whole mind control thing than he looked - he’d become mostly immune to this kind of thing. “No.”

He delivered a tiny shock to her leg and she went down, dropping the hypno-gun along the way. Tadashi finished it off, using the section of net he’d cut out earlier to keep her in place.

And just like that, it was over.

“Okay, question.” Tadashi held up a finger.

“Yeah?” Kei narrowed his eyes.

“How are you just... not affected by mind control like that?” Tadashi asked. 

“I’ll explain later, but....” Kei shrugged. “I guess it just doesn’t work on me anymore.”

“Impressive.” Tadashi’s eyes only stayed wide for a second. “I need to finish everything up with Shouyou, want to come?”

“...I have plans.”

“Oh.” Tadashi smiled. “Then I guess I’ll see you later?”

Kei nodded, heading off down the stairs just as Tadashi went the other way, jetting off the end. Changing back would probably be a little more difficult than he thought it would be.

But at least he was officially back now.

* * *

 

“One question.” 

Kei looked up from the sushi roll on his plate. He couldn’t tell if it was homemade or store bought, and he felt like if he said it, it wouldn’t be taken as positively as he intended. Probably because no one thought he would actually say something positive. “Mm?”   


As a sister-in-law, Tanaka Saeko was nowhere near the worst, but that didn’t change that she was just as energetic and sometimes over-the-top as her brother. “How did you do that so  _ fast _ ?” She laughed, almost a cackle. “If it was my first time back, I’d have no idea what was going on.”   


Kei shrugged. “I just wasn’t worried about it.”   


“Kei, how on earth were you not worried about it?” Saeko looked at him across the table, eyes wide.    


“It’s kind of his job, remember?” Akiteru frowned as he looked up at Kei from his own sushi roll. “But really, it’s been a year, how did you just get right back into it like that?”   


“Dunno.” Kei picked up the last roll on his plate. He was apparently a lot hungrier than he thought he was. “I guess it just happened.”   


“I feel like there are parts of your life that even I will never understand.”   


“Pretty much.” Kei’s gaze wandered to the darkened stairway leading up to the second floor. “Have you told Misaki yet?”   


“About you?” Akiteru laughed. “I won’t do it until it comes up. She goes to bed too early to know what’s going on, anyway.”

That was fair. Misaki was still only three, Kei remembered not being able to watch a lot of TV until he was at least six, if not older. She was probably asleep at seven-thirty like any good three-year-old.    


He wondered how long it would take for him to get over the weirdness of actually having a niece. He was betting on at least two more years.   


“She talks a lot, too, she’d tell someone at her school a couple years down the line and everyone would know,” Saeko added.    


“Yeah, unless you want something else, we’re going to hold it off as long as possible,” Akiteru said.   


“That’s probably the best thing to do,” Kei said.

“How was that your official comeback, though?” Akiteru asked. “It was way too short.”

Kei shrugged. “The people there were pretty happy about it.” 

Saeko grinned. “How many autographs did you sign?”

“Three on my way out.” Kei frowned. “That’s significantly less than last year.”

“Well, you didn't tell anyone this time,” Akiteru said. “It took two hours to get home from work when you showed up last year!”

“That wasn’t my fault.”

“Sure it wasn’t!”

Kei took a sip of the glass of water on the table in front of him, sneaking a peek at his watch. It was significantly later than he thought it was. “…I should go.”   


“Really?” Akiteru turned around to look at the clock on the wall. “Wow, yeah, you probably should.” He stretched his arms up above his head before he stood up. “Want a ride down to the station? I saw how heavy your bags are.”   


Kei blinked. “If you want to give me one.”   


“Of course I want to give you one!” Akiteru lightly punched Kei’s shoulder as the two of them walked toward the door. Kei grabbed his bags as Akiteru found the car keys, and after saying a quick goodbye to Saeko, they were out the door. Kei loaded the bags into the trunk of Akiteru’s car before he got into the passenger seat, just as Akiteru started the car. He drove off a few seconds later.   


“Honestly, you should try to make your next job as flashy as possible, everyone’s going to love you even more that way.” Akiteru smiled, keeping his eyes on the road. “Not that people didn’t love you already –“   


“I’ll just go along with whatever comes up,” Kei said. He didn’t really care about how anything went from here on out. People were surprised enough that he was back early in the first place, and that would only be intensified if the next job happened sometime in the next three days. And according to Tadashi, that wasn’t a logical impossibility. Especially since tomorrow was Christmas.    


“How are you so relaxed about it?” Akiteru asked.    


Kei shrugged. “It’s what I do, it’s nothing special.”   


“Don’t say that!” Akiteru laughed. “It makes you seem like even more of an asshole than you already are.”   


“It’s not like anyone else knows.”   


“True, but…” Akiteru stopped at a red light. “I know how you get on jobs, it definitely is something special.”   


Akiteru was right. Again. If it wasn’t something special, Kei definitely wouldn’t have planned today out as much as he did. 

“Here we are!” Akiteru pulled the car up to the curb and slowed to a stop. Kei was pretty much out of the car already when it stopped, heading to the back to grab the bags again. He didn’t know when the next train was coming, but he wanted to make it, whenever it was. It just meant getting home sooner.

Referring to an apartment he’d only been to three times as home was weird, but it felt weirdly right, too.

“Have fun!” Akiteru shouted just as Kei was about to close the trunk. “Merry Christmas!”   


“…You, too.” Kei closed the trunk, rolling his suitcase along behind him as he walked over to the entrance.

Getting to the train that took him back into town wasn’t hard at all. It was just a ten-minute wait once he got to the platform, which he spent playing some dumb strategy game Kuroo downloaded onto his phone a few months ago and he hadn’t bothered to delete. There weren’t very many other people on the platform, probably because only a few people were going back into the city this late in the day, but Kei was glad for the quiet. 

The train wasn’t very crowded when it came either, certainly something different than coming here at rush hour - ugh - and Kei was able to grab a seat near the back of one of the cars. And better than that, he was able to put his bags next to him and not squish his legs. 

He spent most of the ride over playing the stupid game, periodically responding to texts from people. Hinata in particular had sent him five about why he was there early, to which he responded with a simple “yeah” that summed everything up. Nothing new there. 

Switching from the train to a bus didn’t seem to be much trouble, either. Apparently, the apartment building was close enough to the station that Kei could have walked if he didn’t have all his things with him, but the bus turned out to be a lot easier. And faster. 

After getting off the bus, he only had to walk half a block to reach the building, a drab and nondescript one without neon signs like the various businesses lining the block. The entrance to the building itself was in between a cafe and a bookstore, and right when he got inside, the elevator was the only thing on the ground floor. He pressed the button and only had to wait for a minute or so before the doors slid open. He got inside and pressed the button labeled “10”, and the elevator grunted as it started its ascent to the top floor. 

There wasn’t anyone in the hall when Kei got out of the elevator, and he didn’t have to go far to get where he was looking for anyway. Apartment 1003 was only the second door on the right, just as normal-looking as the rest of the apartments on the floor with a brass plate next to the door. 

Kei knocked on the door three times and waited. 

The door opened a few seconds later, too smoothly to be done by a person. And sure enough, there wasn’t anyone on the other side. Of course.

“So you’re too lazy to actually meet me at the door?” Kei walked inside, dragging his suitcase behind him.    


“It’s job day, I’m too lazy to do anything.” Kei could only see the top of Tadashi’s head from behind the couch.   


“Fine.” Kei set his bags down against the wall. “Do you want me to sit down?”   


“I do.” Tadashi chuckled. “But just warning you, I’m feeling pretty clingy tonight.”   


“That isn’t a problem.” Kei walked around the couch and sat down right next to Tadashi, sinking down into the cushion. “We never said proper hello’s.”   


“Oh. Well.” Tadashi smiled, leaning over and lazily draping his arms around Kei’s shoulders. “Hi, babe.”   


Kei felt his face heat up as all the blood in his body rush straight to it. Tadashi had never called him that before, why now? “…Are you drunk?”   


Tadashi giggled like a little kid. “Nope, just really tired.”   


“The job didn’t look that hard, though.”   


“I stayed up all night last night watching horror movies with Shouyou, we were both pretty out of it.”   


“Ah.” Kei nodded.    


“Oh, crap, you’re probably really tired, too.” Tadashi stretched and stood up, his t-shirt hanging down to his thighs. “I’ll go clean up a little –“   


“I don’t mind messy.” Kei frowned.   


“No, really, it’s  _ bad _ .” Tadashi grinned sheepishly. “I haven’t exactly had any pressure to organize things.”   


“Do that tomorrow, I don’t care.” Kei reached out to grab Tadashi’s hand and pulled him back down onto the couch.    


“What did you do that for?” Tadashi yelped, but he didn’t seen to be extra willing to get off the couch now.    


“I haven’t seen you in a year, isn’t that reason enough?”   


Tadashi’s pout softened and eventually turned into a smile. “I guess so.”   


He picked up the remote from next to him and turned on the TV. The screen showed some cooking show, where the two young chefs were frosting a cake. Kei didn’t have any intention of actually paying attention. As far as he was concerned, this was just white noise.   


“Hey.” Kei nudged Tadashi’s shoulder. He was staring blankly at the screen, like he was in a trance. How tired was he?

Tadashi blinked a few times before he sat up. “…What?”   


Kei smirked. “Can I have a kiss?”   


Tadashi laughed softly, turning his head and leaning forward enough to press their lips together for only a second. They instantly pulled apart with a pop, cheeks pink.   


“Thanks,” Kei whispered.   


“You’re welcome,” Tadashi whispered back, looking up at the TV. “Want to watch a movie?”   


“I guess,” Kei said. “What do you have?”   


“Hitoka gave me some cheesy romance movies on DVD for my birthday.” Tadashi stood up again and walked over to open the cabinet the TV was on top of, pulling out two DVD cases. “There’s one about two teachers and their students set them up.” He switched the order so the second case was now on too. “This one’s about rival dog walkers, I think.”   


“I’m fine with the teacher one.”   


“Okay!” Tadashi opened the case and put the discussion in the DVD player on one of the shelves in the cabinet. He pressed a few buttons and the TV started playing trailers. “I’m gonna go get a drink, want anything?”   


“Water, thanks.” Kei sunk down into the cushion even more. Damn, a movie like this would probably put him to sleep. Who knew being on a bunch of trains all day would be so exhausting?   


“Here you go.” Tadashi put a glass of water into Kei’s hands before going back to the counter. He came back to few seconds later and sat down with a mug in his hands.   


“What’s that?”   


“Tea,” Tadashi responded. “What, you think I would drink coffee this late at night?”   


Fair point.   


Tadashi pressed a button on the remote and the menu faded out as the movie started. It wasn’t much – if anything, it was generic as hell – but Kei knew that wasn’t the point. He finished his water fairly quickly and put it on the floor, making a note of where it was so he wouldn’t kick it over later.    


He tried focusing on the movie at least a little. The volume was low enough so that whenever Tadashi took a sip of his tea or giggled at something on screen, it interrupted the plot. Not like there was much of a plot anyway, and even if there was, Kei didn’t really care about it.   


Eventually, the softness of the cushions and the quiet drone of conversation from the movie and the heat in the room made him start to get sleepy. Whenever he blinked, it took him slightly longer to open his eyes again. Eventually, he leaned his head on the armrest and closed his eyes, knowing the movie was so boring he wouldn’t miss much.

* * *

  
“Hey, Tsukki, wake up!”   


Kei opened his eyes just as Tadashi shoved him almost hard enough to push him off the couch entirely. “…Huh? What time is it?”

“Eleven.” Tadashi paused. “Ish. I don’t know.”

“Okay...” Kei slowly sat up. Why was Tadashi waking him up now? It was late enough for - wait. “You were even more tired than I was.”

“My tea was caffeinated.”

“What, why?”

Tadashi grinned. “You’ll see. Get your uniform on.”

It would have made sense if it was the only kind of tea he had, but no, he had to complicate things and leave Kei with more questions than answers. Kei knew he wasn’t going to get an answer if he asked why. He got to his feet and went to find his duffel against the wall. Sure enough, the red jacket was right on top where he’d stuffed it in back at the station.

It was just then that he realized Tadashi had his own uniform on. How long ago had the movie ended? 

Kei let out a breath and went into the bathroom to change, which only took a minute. Still fit perfectly.

“Damn, I forgot how good you looked in that.”

Kei definitely would have said the same thing about Tadashi if he’d actually forgotten. But of course, he’d watched every livestream for the past year, so that was impossible. “Thank you...?”

“You’re welcome.” Tadashi was twirling the mask strap around his finger. “You’re probably wondering what’s going on.”

“Yeah, really.” Kei frowned. “You ingesting anything with caffeine when you could be sleeping is enough of a red flag on its own.”

“I had to stay awake somehow!” Tadashi started walking toward the door. “We’re going out.”

“Now? It’s eleven.”

“Ish.”

Kei rolled his eyes. “Yeah, sure. Ish. But it’s late.”

“So?” Tadashi slowly opened the door, making sure that no one was in the hall before he stepped out into the hallway. He kept his voice just as quiet as his movements. “Evil never sleeps.”

“And apparently, neither do we,” Kei grumbled.

“Yep!” Tadashi giggled, going the opposite direction from the elevator. He walked down the hall until he reached a door at the very end, opening it softly before he walked inside. He stopped in the doorway and waited for Kei to catch up.    


When Kei finally got there, he saw Tadashi walking up a flight of stairs that didn’t seem to lead anywhere. Where was he going? And why was he going up? This was the top floor, wasn’t it?   


“Normally you’d need a key to get up here,” Tadashi said, putting one hand up to the ceiling.   


“But you’re not normal,” Kei finished.   


“Exactly.” Tadashi grinned.   


The ceiling panel turned out to be a door that swung upward, leading up to the roof. Tadashi climbed up and disappeared through it as Kei started up the stairs. He could see the dark blue sky up above and feel the cold rush of wind as he got closer.   


And when he popped his head up through the hatch, it all looked so much bigger.   


He climbed up onto the roof and got up to his feet, looking at the world around him. Buildings at varying heights rose up in front of him no matter which direction he looked. The wind rushed through his hair and cut through his clothes and sent a shiver up his spine, but it was a strangely good feeling. The cold made him feel more awake than he had been.

“Like the view?” Tadashi asked. 

Kei nodded, entranced by the twinkling lights all around him. 

“Good.” Tadashi walked to the edge. “I haven’t been up here in months.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, I don’t really have a reason to.” Tadashi shrugged. “If I have to get to a job, I just go through my window.”

“Fun.”

“You’re going to hate it.”

“I’m sure.” Kei got to the edge himself, looking down over the edge at the ground below. “...Why did you bring me up here?”

“Because.” Tadashi smiled. “You’re not afraid of heights, are you?”

“No.” Weirdly enough, Kei never had been. Being able to fly helped, of course, but even before that he’d never gotten dizzy or anything. 

“There’s... one thing I wanted to do up here.” Tadashi’s voice was quieter than before.

“What is it?”

Tadashi didn’t answer. 

Kei felt himself being lifted up off his feet, just floating up in the air. It took him by surprise, sure, but he knew the best - or worst, depending on how he thought about it - was yet to come. He felt himself turning in midair until he was floating with his back to the ground and looking up at the sky, like he was involved in some magic ritual in a movie.

Without any warning, he dropped. His eyes shot open wide as his heart catapulted right into his throat -

And he landed right in Tadashi’s waiting arms.

“What the hell are you doing?” Kei hissed.

“Taking you around,” Tadashi said, like it was nothing. “Welcome back to your cliché superhero movie life.”

Oh. “Wouldn’t you have to save me first?”

Tadashi grinned. “I already did that, didn’t I?”

Kei frowned. He was right. Like goddamned always. “Doesn’t the whole scenic flying tour thing usually happen right after that?” He’d watched way too many dumb movies over the past twenty-three years. “It only happens because the damsel in distress needs to get home.”

Tadashi opened his mouth to say something but stopped, pausing for a long time before he actually did say anything. “You know a lot more about dumb superhero movie clichés than you let on.”

“Who took me to see all the dumb superhero movies again?”

Tadashi giggled. “You must have seen some in Tokyo, right?”

“Yeah, one.” Kuroo and Bokuto had dragged Kei to one a few years ago, and it said a lot that he hadn’t gone to see any more. 

Tadashi playfully rolled his eyes. “We should go.” He looked out at something in front of him. “Hold on tight!”

He bent his knees and took off, getting a little air before he started moving forward. In the rush of it all, Kei had grabbed onto his jacket, which really wouldn’t do him much, but he didn’t let go.

“Are you scared?” Tadashi asked, shouting to be heard over the wind.

“No.”

“You look scared.”

“Shut up, I’m not.” Kei wasn’t actually scared, just… surprised. That was all. 

“Well, I’m not going to drop you if that’s what you’re worried about.” Tadashi chuckled. “You might not want to bury your face in my jacket, there’s a lot to look at.”

Kei turned his head to look at what was happening. He couldn’t focus on much since they were going so fast, but the tiny lights in the dark were better than the mass of light during the day time. Like a bunch of stars. 

Tadashi wasn’t flying above the buildings. He was darting in between them with constant twists and turns. It was a thrill ride, and Kei found himself beginning to like it. Even if it was too fast for Tadashi to “show him around”. Kei suspected that was never his intention.

“Wait, is that –“ Tadashi started, looking at one of the buildings a ways in front of him, first at the entrance on the street, then up at the roof.

“What is it?” Kei asked. 

“We’re making a quick stop up here, it’s important!” Tadashi started going up, so gradually that Kei didn’t notice it until they’d touched down on a rooftop.

Kei stood up on his own two feet again and looked around. This was just like any other rooftop – at least, he thought it was. It felt strangely familiar.

“I had no idea this place was so close.” Tadashi walked to the center of the rooftop and looked up.

“Um…” Kei felt stupid for asking, but he was clearly missing something huge. “What  _ is _ this place?”

“You don’t remember?”

Kei shook his head. 

“Oh.” Tadashi giggled. “I thought you would.”

“I really don’t, would you care to enlighten me?”

“Well, it was years ago so it makes sense if you don’t remember the place specifically, but…” Tadashi smiled, the smile that could make anyone else in the whole world happy with him, Kei definitely included. “We had our first kiss up here.”

Kei blinked. “That was  _ here _ ?”

“Yep!”

Of course Kei didn’t remember where it was. He’d just been focused on trying not to die.

“You’re back for good, right?” Tadashi asked.

“Hm?”

“Like…” Tadashi paused. “You’re not leaving again after a week and a half, are you?”

Kei couldn’t help but laugh a little at how ridiculous that would be. “I have a lot of lost time to make up.”

“Oh.” Tadashi laughed a little, too. “I guess you do.”

“Yeah, I'm not leaving again.” Kei liked the way that sounded when he said it. Now that the words had come out of his mouth, they were all the more real.

Tadashi smiled again, all big and wide and toothy. “We should go, it’s probably almost midnight.”

“What’s at midnight?”

“Hel _ lo _ , it’s Christmas at midnight!” Tadashi stopped in his tracks, eyes wide. “Maybe it already is.”

Without another word, he dug his phone out of his pocket and turned it on, the screen lighting up the tiny smile on his face. He held the phone right up to Kei’s face so he could see the time perfectly.

12:01 AM. December 25th.

“Merry Christmas,” Kei said. It was the only thing to say.

“Merry Christmas!” Tadashi enthusiastically repeated, flicking his hand up toward the sky.

Kei went flying up along with it, his breath catching in his throat once again before he landed right back in Tadashi’s arms again. “Do you really have to do that?”

“Sorry, I’m just excited!”

Tadashi took off earlier than Kei expected, leaving Kei just clinging to the jacket again. He was even worse than he thought he was.

Whatever.

“Is there anywhere you want to go?” Tadashi asked, almost shouting to be heard over the wind. “We have all night!”

“There’s not really a point when it’s this late.”

“Yeah, but...” Tadashi frowned. “Yeah, you’re right.” He looked out at the road ahead, increasing his speed just a little. “There’s something I wanted to ask you about, anyway.”

“Are we going home?”

“If you don’t mind.” Tadashi chuckled. “If you don’t want to go anywhere, there’s not really a reason to go anywhere at all, it’s not exactly interesting for me to go sightseeing anymore.”

“Right.” For some weird reason, Kei didn't want to just go back. This whole thing seemed like a waste that way. He wanted  _ something  _ out of it.

“You want a thrill ride, don't you?”

“What?” Kei narrowed his eyes. Where did he get that?

“I thought  _ I  _ was the one who liked that kind of thing, but if you insist -”

Tadashi got even faster, turning every corner he could without any kind of pattern. Whenever he turned, he tilted in such a way that Kei almost worried he was going to get dropped. Even though Tadashi wasn't even close to that careless. 

Kei tried to remind himself of that when Tadashi started twirling and spinning in midair. He just held on tighter, staying completely silent because he knew something embarrassing would happen if he opened his mouth. But his eyes were open wide, staring down at the ground. Then up at the sky. Then down again. Then sideways at a window for a split second. His heart raced, every beat probably loud enough to be heard down the block.

But as freaked out as he was by all this, it satisfied his desire to do something more with his night. Even if it was only a few minutes. 

A few minutes was more than enough for something like this this late.

Tadashi slowed down as he started to touch back down on the apartment roof. Catching his breath, he closed his eyes as Kei hovered back to his feet again. Everything was silent for a good thirty seconds.

“Sorry!” Tadashi’s laugh echoed a little bit. “I kind of got carried away.”

“It could have been worse.” Kei shrugged. “How far did we go?”

“It have no idea, we might have just been going in circles and I wouldn't have noticed.” Tadashi grinned. “That's not the point, isn't it?”

Kei shook his head, following Tadashi to the stairs. They tiptoed through the hall until they were safely back in apartment 1003 again. 

It felt a lot more like home already.

“You wanted to ask me something?” 

“Right!” Tadashi sat down on the couch, beckoning Kei to sit down next to him. “Tell me more about this whole mind control immunity thing.”

“What do you want to know?” Kei asked. The more important question was why he wanted to know it, but that could be asked later.

“Just give me a general explanation,” Tadashi said. “How you did it, when you did it, all that.”

“I started working on it pretty much when I got to Tokyo.” Kei leaned back, hoping he could shorten this without leaving out anything important. “Apparently I couldn't defend myself for shit.”

Tadashi frowned. “I thought you were pretty good.”

“I probably looked like I was good at it, but I wasn’t.”

“Ah.” Tadashi nodded. “So how did you do it?”

“Kuroo-san thought it would be a good idea if I worked with everyone who came through.”

“Since when do you listen to  _ him _ ?” 

Kei blinked. “I never said I agreed to it.”

“So he forced you into it?”

“Essentially, yes.”

“And you got experience with a wide range of mind control abilities since everyone goes to Tokyo at some point.”

“Yes.”

“Interesting.” Tadashi frowned. “So it just... doesn't work on you anymore? Like if someone tries something, you just won't react to it?”

“That's pretty much how it is.” Kei frowned back. Why was Tadashi asking all these questions? He was planning something, that was the only explanation.

“Well, in that case, I guess nothing would happen if I told you to  _ cuddle me like the world depends on it _ , wouldn't it?”

The snap came before Kei realized it. Something clicked in the back of his mind, and suddenly that was something he actively wanted to do. He scooted much closer than he would have otherwise, draping his arms over Tadashi’s shoulders as his breathing started to slow. This was nice. 

“What the hell...” He whispered. There was still a little logical voice in the back of his head that this wasn't natural, that he didn't really want to do this, that it wasn't supposed to happen, but he'd end up doing this anyway if he stayed up much later. So for all intents and purposes, it was natural. And he liked it.

Tadashi giggled. “Surprised?”

Kei nodded, not moving an inch. 

“I knew that would work.”

“I didn't.” Kei frowned, just a little hit. No mind-control anything had worked on him for a long time now, why this?

“If it wasn't me, it wouldn't have done anything.”

Kei blinked. “What are you talking about?”

Tadashi hummed. “I guess no one told you this.”

“Told me what?”

“Well...” Tadashi paused for a second, eyes up at the ceiling. “This whole mind control thing is based on trust and how much you're willing to listen to people. That explains why you’re so good at defending yourself, because you don't let people in easily.”

“Yeah, but what about -”

“Me?” Tadashi grinned. “Every hero has a weakness, Tsukki.”

“That didn't answer my question.”

Tadashi rolled his eyes. “As long as we never get into any huge fights or anything, you're pretty much screwed as far as my powers go. They'll almost always work on you.”

“Damn.”

“But...” Tadashi leaned back into the cushion. “That isn't necessarily a bad thing.”

Kei blinked. “You just called it a weakness.”

“That was a joke,” Tadashi said. “Anyway, all that is just a side effect of you having a hell of a lot of faith in me, and I’m -” He cut himself off with a giggle. “This is going to sound so bad!”

“What is it?”

“I'm really glad you do.”

“...You’re welcome?”

Tadashi just giggled again and stood up, looking at the closed curtains across the room. Kei followed, wondering what was to come.

As if by magic, the curtains opened slowly, revealing what looked like the entire world outside. There weren’t very many lights on in any of the buildings around, but there were enough to match the stars up above. The indigo sky made everything seem that much more calm and still, and a full moon shone down like a night light.

“Wait.” Tadashi sucked in a breath before he started laughing.

“What?” Kei narrowed his eyes. What was so funny? There was nothing happening.

“Oh my god.” Tadashi closed his eyes and tried to take a deep breath, but even that was interrupted when he started giggling again.

“Seriously, what’s going on?”

“Did you -” Tadashi cleared his throat, unable to stop laughing even then- “Did you come early as a  _ Christmas present _ ?”

Kei couldn’t control the blood that came rushing to his cheeks. That was a lot less embarrassing in theory. “So what if I did?”

“You sap!” Tadashi just laughed harder now. 

Kei wanted to melt through the floor, then through all nine of the floors below this one and into the ground. 

“I love you so much, holy shit!” 

That wasn’t the exact reaction Kei was expecting, but it was far from the worst. “I love you, too...?”

Tadashi grinned before shifting his weight to the side to kiss Kei’s cheek. 

A thought pushed itself to the forefront of Kei’s mind, something that had clearly been under the radar for a long time but just made itself known now. “Um, Tadashi?”

“What?”

“...Thank you.”

“For what?”

“I don’t know,  _ this _ ?” Kei gestured vaguely at something, he didn’t really know what.

Tadashi frowned. “I don’t get it.” He blinked before his eyes went wide. “The superhero thing?”

Kei nodded. 

“You shouldn’t thank me for  _ that _ !” Tadashi lightly punched Kei’s shoulder.

“But you -”

“Really. Don’t.” Tadashi smiled. “How it started doesn’t matter, this was always  _ our _ thing.”

That was technically true. 

“And you know what?” The stars lit up Tadashi’s eyes as he looked out at the sky. “It’s always going to be.” He paused. “Right?”

It took Kei a few seconds longer than it should have to realize that Tadashi was expecting a response. “Right.”

“So.” Tadashi smiled like he was a little kid again. “Are you ready?”

“For what?” Kei narrowed his eyes. “Don't tell me you're doing something else -”

Tadashi giggled. “Not tonight.” He stopped, taking a breath. “For whatever’s next.”

“That sounds weirdly vague.”

“Well,  _ that's  _ because I have no idea what it is.” Tadashi shrugged. “It's not like there's a cookie-cutter normal life ahead of us or anything.”

“I guess.” 

“At least it won't get boring.” Tadashi took a step toward the window. “That's the best part of all this, from what I've heard.”

“Mm.” Kei took a step in turn.

“You never answered my question.” Tadashi turned to Kei with bright eyes. “Are you ready?”

Kei blinked. “Yeah, I'm ready.”

Tadashi smiled again. “Good.”

He grabbed the front of Kei’s shirt and tugged him down just enough to kiss him hard, keeping his hands bunched into fists in the fabric. Kei felt himself instinctively suck in a breath, heart starting to race. But Tadashi didn't seem to notice. He went on like nothing was happening, full of energy and confidence. 

It took a few seconds for Kei to be able to breathe again, but once he was, every sign of nervousness that had been there before all but vanished. He held Tadashi close and didn't let go as the initial fire started to fade. It was calmer now that a few seconds had passed. Not like either of their still-racing hearts knew that.

All of a sudden, something felt weird. Like their surroundings had disappeared and it was just the two of them. Not in a cheesy metaphorical sense, but like there was literally nothing there. Like the floor just wasn't under their feet anymore.

Kei opened his eyes a crack, just to see what the hell was going on. Sure enough, he was floating just a little bit above the floor. Of course.

“Goddammit,” he whispered, pulling back with a scowl.

Tadashi just giggled more, pushing off his feet into the air. “Why did you stop? I would have followed you.” 

Kei shrugged. “I don't know, it's weird.”

Tadashi looked like he was about to say something but didn't, laying out in midair. “I guess it's pretty late, we had to cut this off sometime.”

Come to think of it, Kei was exhausted. Sleep sounded amazing right about now.

“As far as Christmas presents are concerned, though, this is the best one I've ever had.” Tadashi smiled. “Welcome home.”

He pushed off a wall and glided across the room. Kei wanted to roll his eyes at Tadashi being too showy to just walk, but he was exactly the same way.

He stayed in the air, taking one last look out at the sky in silence.

He was here now. He was back where he was supposed to be, back where everything felt right, back  _ home _ . He'd been waiting for this moment forever, and he'd stay here no matter what, as far into forever as he possibly could. He was free again, free to be whatever he wanted to be, free to fly again.

And now, no one could ever bring him down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You should probably know going in that formatting this chapter was a nightmare and I got my wisdom teeth out this morning.
> 
> Okay, confession time: I finished this fic in March (seriously, I remember writing the last scene while I was waiting for the rest of my family to get out of the bathroom after beauty and the beast) but I didn't start posting it until April. And why is that? Well, one, I wanted to have time to look over everything and edit it a little bit. I also wanted weekly updates and I didn't trust myself or my crippling writer's block to not screw me over at the last second.
> 
> But the most important reason is that I wanted the last chapter to go up today specifically. (Well, technically tomorrow because it's still 10pm here but I'm going by AO3 dates) Two years ago on June 29, 2015, I posted the first chapter of MitAoSI 1, and it really seems like less than two years but damn. In 2015, I was a freshman going on sophomore in high school, only one season of haikyuu currently existed, the US political mess was a joke, and my new (current) obsession didn't even have an anime adaptation yet. It's been a long time.
> 
> And now, two years later, I'm finally closing the door on MitAoSIverse. It's been a wild ride, but this AU has done its time and I can't ignore chamber au any longer. So as I'm saying goodbye to my first haikyuu fic, I'd like to thank everyone who commented, everyone who left kudos, everyone who drew gorgeous fanart and gushed on tumblr, everyone who talked to me about it, everyone who helped me get this series where it is, and everyone who took the time to read a 15-year-old turned 17-year-old's magnum opus. It's been real.


End file.
